Elemental - Fire

I think with this artwork wants to show the spectator the seductive side of fire. Because of the burning bouquet of flowers the saying “being on fire” (=being deeply in love) came to my mind. I think this is a really interesting aspect: why do we say “being on fire”? Does it really feel like that? Fire as something positive, not something destructive.
Or do the burning flowers mean that lady in this picture had an unhappy marriage, that there were a lot of fights and that now she burns her wedding bouquet because she wants a divorce? Fire as something destructive.

When looking at this work I ask myself: if someone gets near that lady, what will happen? Is she dangerous, or not? This tension is created by making the woman look away from the viewer. It seems that she thinks about something (like: should I burn him or not?). Also her expression is difficult to figure out. Is she smiling seductively or rather a bit angry?
One can clearly see that the photographer has great knowledge about how to create tension just through dynamic poses and expressions. Also all the different resources were manipulated so skilfully that the whole work looks veryrealistic.


The details certainly add a special vibe to that tense mysterious atmosphere, especially the sparks. Some things I only noticed when looking closer are: that the lady is actually touching the fire and doesn’t seem to get burned by it, which amazes me. That her nails are white, and not red. This is also interesting because I always associate white nails with innocence.
This makes me come to the conclusion that either the lady herself is “on fire”, and totally innocently in love, and she has this thoughtful expression because she thinks about the person she’s in love with.
Or other people perceive her as hot/seductive and therefore see her with this fiery aura, but she herself is totally unaware about the effect she has on other people.