KALTBLUT presents: Heaven, Hollow & Hope! Photography and editing by Soo Hahn. Creative Direction by Manpreet Gehlan and Soo Hahn. Movement Direction by Xristina Prompona. The models are Manpreet Gehlan and Xristina Prompona. Hair and Make Up by Geremi So.
Inspired by the grandeur of classical paintings, each world is built to offer introspective explorations into how our moral identities can shift between the extremes of destruction and renewal.
Heaven is the pursuit and chase of virtue and the longing for salvation. The image depicts angels (Manpreet Gehlan) reaching for the goddess (Xristina Prompona). The goddess, with a surrendered angel in her arms, seemingly leads the angels to the light beyond the confines of the angels’ access. The image speaks to the way we yearn for goodness, for freedom, for purity, for the ideal virtue.
Hollow dismantles that chase of virtue in Heaven. What happens when innocence is swallowed by ambition, greed, or forces beyond our control? The once-martyr figures (Xristina Prompona) are now creating an overwhelming scene of destruction of the angels (Manpreet Gehlan), showing an eroded sense of innocence, the fall from grace, and our deep fall into the void of the self. In doing so, Hollow questions whether damnation is truly self-inflicted or a consequence of the world we exist within.
Hope is what follows euphoria and destruction. It is not a return or rejection of virtue or vice, but rather depicts the renewal that follows self-destruction, and the understanding that we are not necessarily bound to these absolutes. Where the forest grows, we see two previously clashing forces (Manpreet Gehlan, Xristina Prompona) now exist in harmony between the opposing forces of clouds of heaven and the hollows of hell. Hope is the recognition that in self-acceptance, we can renew, grow, and move forward.
Creative Direction by Manpreet Gehlan / Instagram: @manpreet.gehlan
and Soo Hahn / www.soohahn.com / @s00y0unghahn
Photography and editing by Soo Hahn www.soohahn.com / @s00y0unghahn
Movement Direction by Xristina Prompona / Instagram: @xristinaprompona
Models are Manpreet Gehlan and Xristina Prompona
Hair and Make Up by Geremi So / www.gerrids.art / Instagram: @gerrids.art
This project marks the first creative collaboration between artists Soo Hahn and Manpreet Gehlan, with support from Movement Director Xristina Prompona (Vogue Italia, Miista, Adidas) and HMUA Geremi So (Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam). The photos are intended to be released in physical exhibitions, as well as magazine platforms, photography competitions, and social media.
Soo Hahn is a visual artist whose work blends digital art and analogue media to create bold visuals exploring themes of intersectionality and introspection. With an art & creative direction background, they have worked with clients as Spotify, Biig Piig, Skin+Me, Cadbury, and Aveeno. Their photography and film work has been recognised by the likes of Shiny Awards, PromoNews, 1884 Magazine, Nasty Magazine, and more.
Manpreet Gehlan is a multidisciplinary creative working both behind and in front of the lens, from movement, film, to photography. From being a muse in a Mura Masa music video to producing music videos for Mount Kimbie, he works within the realms of exploring and embodying visual narratives about identity, culture, and contemporary aesthetics.
Joining their creative forces, the duo create images that exist between our real world and an otherworldly realm, commenting on culture, identity, and more.
