Released as America marks its 250th anniversary, photographer and creative director Talon Reed Cooper presents False Prophet, a descent into the space where the sacred, greed, and power become dangerously intertwined.
Inspired by the warnings of Zephaniah, Cooper creates a world where the divine and the corrupted exist within the same frame.
“Its judges are like ravenous wolves at evening time, who by dawn have left no trace of their prey. Its prophets are arrogant liars seeking their own gain.”
— Zephaniah 3:3-4
Drawing from Renaissance chiaroscuro and its dramatic relationship between light and shadow, Cooper translates a historic visual language into contemporary photography, examining the moment where faith is no longer protected, but possessed: reshaped by greed, power, and those seeking their own gain.
Figures of innocence and excess, betrayal and judgment, purity and corruption emerge from the darkness, confronting the fragile boundary between what is worshipped and what is consumed.
The work does not question faith itself, but the forces that surround it: those who claim righteousness while abandoning the principles they were entrusted to uphold.
In False Prophet, the greatest threat to the sacred does not come from those who oppose it, but from those who corrupt it from within.
SHOT BY @talonreedcooper
CD @talonreedcooper
STYLING @mandoh
PROD DESIGN @h.a.v.n
SFX DESIGN @em.mua.lani
SFXMU @em.mua.lani @catpaschen
CUSTOM PROSTHETICS @dyadmufx
GLAM @primakeupartistry
BTS VIDEO @lilceeezzz
PROD MANAGER @jack__angel
PR @jpprcreativelab
STARRING @trevor_newlin as The False Prophet
@zarif_atool2 as Jesus
@mmiahannahh as Esther
@theonlysuccubus as Photini
@katieoacts as Lilith
@jadenmcaulay as Judas
@jaykane15 @stephen.moreau @tuckerboggs as The Rich Fools
@naborariasjr @robertwhirry1 as The Judges
@jakethesnake as The Hunters
TIE by @jack__angel GARMENTS @damayaofficial_ @luxideng_ @marinaleightatelier @natashia.studio @the.marina.co
