Burnt Almonds, Gustav & Helga, 2000 (3D Lenticular transparency, steel, lightbox)

Burnt Almonds is a series of works intended as contemporary Vanitas paintings, displaying the accumulation of wealth and the corruption of avarice. Shortly after the end of the Second World War, Russian diplomat Konstantin Siminov described a grisly tableau of the decadence and debauchery indulged in by German officers. On entering a bunker in central Berlin he witnessed the aftermath of a desperate last party of champagne, sex and cyanide. Aware of their imminent demise, the officers gorged on whatever earthly luxuries were available to them. They ate, drank and copulated, finally washing it all down with Cyanide pills. Collishaw reconstructed some of these scenarios, photographed them and printed them as 3D Lenticular transparencies in light boxes.