Allow me to Introduce myself, I’m Charlotte Pridding and I’m an avid writer, artist and photographer with an interest for the human skull in the contemporary visual culture. The real question is, what does one do with all of these interests and inspirations? That’s where Black Calavera plays an extremely crucial part.
What is Black Calavera?
Black Calavera is a research project that investigates the growing interest of the human skull within contemporary art, design and popular culture. Towards the beginning of 2012, I was introduced to the Mexican Day of the Dead and the sugar skulls that were discovered via local bars, restaurants, cafes, shops and galleries across Melbourne.
This eventually progressed into a fascination for Western depictions of the skull that were significantly prevalent within contemporary fashion, film, television, art, graphic design and digital media. These incredible discoveries inspired the name, Black Calavera and the English word for “black” is merged with the Spanish word for skull, which is “Calavera.”
The blog includes a series of articles, reviews and projects exploring the artistic, cultural and historical representations of the human skull. The posts presents inspiring research relating to professional and emerging artists who explore death’s unavoidable presence from an artistic and cultural context. Furthermore, Black Calavera examines society’s ongoing fascination with death in the 21st century.
skullsproject 
July 28th, 2012 at 7:52 pm
I went to see James Hopkin’s curated exhibition today and wrote a post about that (it will be out on my blog tomorrow). I accidentally stumbled upon Your blog and thought will get in touch with you since it seems we have a common love for skulls:)
My brother is a jewellery designer and uses skulls in many of his creations. Here’s one of the blog posts about this http://jolitajewellery.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/diamonds-are-skulls/ and our jewellery collection Voodoo where all the focus is on skulls http://www.jolitajewellery.com/brands/VOODOO.html.
We had our pieces featured in Dia De Los Muertos themed shoot before http://jolitajewellery.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/2300/ and I’m also waiting for pictures from the most recent shoot of the same theme, sneaky preview is posted here (last 4 pictures) http://jolitajewellery.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/stylists-at-work-with-unique-colourful-statement-jewellery/.
Sorry for a long comment, I thought it might be of an interest
Jolita x
August 21st, 2012 at 3:52 am
Thanks for you comment I will definitely post about them once I have some spare time 🙂
August 21st, 2012 at 6:57 pm
Thanks so much! That’s very sweet of you x
September 27th, 2012 at 1:34 am
Hi I do apologize for the late reply, I have written about the skull jewellery that you currently have on your blog. They are great! I love the voddoo collection! I’ve just posted the link below in case you would like to have a look. https://skullsproject.wordpress.com/2012/09/26/jolita-jewellery/
August 20th, 2012 at 6:02 pm
Added ‘The Skull Project’ to my blogroll.
September 24th, 2012 at 12:02 pm
Oh this is what I’ve been waiting for – what a great idea for a blog! I wonder if you’d be interested in having a chat about a guest post?
September 24th, 2012 at 12:14 pm
hey thanks 🙂 it’s currently for my university project but i’m hoping it expand on the blog once I finish 🙂 Yeah no problems, just wondering what you mean about a guest post?
September 26th, 2012 at 9:37 am
It’s a pretty damn awesome uni project I have to say! As for the guest post – I’m an artist living in Perth and I paint (mostly) skulls and día de los muertos designs on different things, and I was wondering if you’d be into writing a small post about skulls and/or mexican culture for my blog? You’re welcome to check it out and drop me a message if you’d like to chat more!
September 27th, 2012 at 1:30 am
lol thanks! Yeah sure no problems, I’ll have a look through your blog and I shall write a new post about it. I’m always looking for blogs to write about, that use skulls or the Mexican Day of the Dead 🙂
September 27th, 2012 at 8:28 am
Awesome thanks!
Would you be interested in doing a post for my blog about Mexican Day of the Dead culture/skulls – under your name/project name of course! Drop me an email if you’re interested: hello@fieldey.com
October 14th, 2012 at 12:12 pm
Hi there, sorry about the late reply, I’ve been writing a thesis. I have written a post about your skateboard designs that are fantastic by the way! If you would like me to change anything, please let me know, I’ve added a picture from your blog but I’ve added all the links to your wordpress and facebook site including your normal website. Would love to write another blog post? I do find these skateboards rather fascinating. 🙂
October 14th, 2012 at 10:33 pm
How’s the thesis going? Thanks for taking the time to write the excellent blog post even though you must’ve been busy. I think the post is great! If you would like to write another, that would be awesome, let me know if you need any more info/pics.
October 15th, 2012 at 2:11 pm
Hey Good thanks 😀 ..i’ve completed the first draft, i’m writing about the Day of the Dead actually 🙂 ohh no problems, I really liked looking at you work. Yeah it would be great to talk about some of your Day of the Dead / skull works 🙂 the skateboards you made are fantastic!
October 15th, 2012 at 5:15 pm
Howdy! Happy to have stumbled over here and loving the blog. Look forward to reading more!
October 15th, 2012 at 10:27 pm
Hey thank you 😀 i’m hoping to post more once I complete my research project, glad you like it.
October 24th, 2012 at 12:02 am
[…] of the human skull in Western art and media has risen dramatically in the last few decades. Black Calavera is currently investigating this trend on the Skull Project Blog, which you can consult for more […]
October 27th, 2012 at 10:45 am
Hello again, thought you might (hopefully) like some of my skull shots adorned with our jewellery:) I will be posting more images next week, but for now I have updated our Facebook cover https://www.facebook.com/jolitajewellery, Twitter background https://twitter.com/JolitaJewellery and website header http://jolitajewellery.com/
Sorry I hope you or anyone else won’t think it’s a shameless self-promotion, I am just really really proud of my pictures:):) Would love to hear your thoughts.
Jolita x
October 28th, 2012 at 2:02 pm
Hello, I do apologize for the late reply, I’ve been finishing off my thesis. I think the photographs are great! just wondering if they’re apart of the display or if they’re a piece of jewellery? I would love to write a post on your new collection, once I have finished everything?
I’m currently working on an exhibition about the skull, I’ll make sure to post some pictures once it’s all finished 🙂 but yeah it’s not shameless at all, there’s a great contrast and composition between the skulls and the jewellery
October 28th, 2012 at 2:22 pm
Hi! Thanks so much for getting back, please don’t worry about the time, you have more important things to do!! I’m glad you like the pictures:) Basically what I’ve done I just took a piece of jewellery, whether it’s a bangle or a necklace and placed it on my skull, which I have at home. I shot everything on black background. Thanks so much for offering to write about the jewellery, but don’t feel obliged. Good luck with thesis and speak to you soon! Jolita x
January 4th, 2013 at 10:47 am
Hi there, I do apologize for such the late reply, everything was just way to hectic over Christmas and new Years. Now that I have the free time, I would love to talk about the skulls you had on WordPress a while ago! I was just wondering if the skulls were apart of the jewellery or are they used to display the jewellery? If you would like me to advertise anything, I would be more than happy to, I’m on holidays at the moment and I’ve just finished my course so I have no distractions. Hopefully I shall speak to you soon, Charlotte.
January 31st, 2013 at 3:37 am
Cool blog. Best of luck in 2013!
January 31st, 2013 at 7:28 am
Oh thank you 🙂 I’m glad you like the blog and thanks for the comment. Best of luck to you to!
September 6th, 2014 at 12:16 pm
Very cool concept. Look forward to reading more from you.
September 6th, 2014 at 12:28 pm
ohh thank you, I’m glad you like the blog. I did take a break but I’ve now started blogging again 🙂