Built in 1927, the eerily beautiful and dilapidated Touro Shakespeare almshouse, was formerly a nursing home for New Orleans elderly and indigent. Designed by William Freret, this edifice has a vivid history which includes fire, yankee troops and a former slave haven. Still standing today without much help or love, it serves as a striking backdrop for photographer Sophie Lin Berard’s visual style and enigmatic story telling. Working as a team alongside stylist Christina Flannery, Berard focuses on key elements she is drawn to like color theory, composition and lighting. The Amish inspired clothing set the stage for a dramatic and fluid unity tying together the structural beauty and sadness of the set with makeup artist Sarah Early’s soft touch on FT45 models Lauren, Dylana, and Collin lending their honest and natural beauty to telegraph a story of sisterhood, restraint, magic and death.

Almshouse

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