Collection: Counterfeit Saints
In Counterfeit Saints, female photographer Jamie Nelson dissects society’s fixation on the luxury logo—where devotion to branding verges on religious worship. Collaborating with artist Dylan Egon, Nelson fabricated a series of faux Chanel artifacts—guns, armor, and halos of gold-plated switchblades—juxtaposed with authentic Chanel pieces styled by Anna Katsanis. The resulting tension between the counterfeit and the real invites the viewer to question authenticity, value, and the hypnotic power of a logo.
In one image, a woman’s eyes are veiled by dripping gold chains, her latex armor emblazoned with Chanel’s iconic interlocking Cs—a vision of both sanctity and submission. Another model gazes defiantly down the barrel of a gold-plated revolver, the double C stamped where a serial number might be. Elsewhere, Nelson constructs an absurdist pantheon: a Chanel “saint” crowned by a halo of knives, a nude figure wearing nothing but Chanel nipple pasties, a face tattooed entirely in Chanel logos.
Nelson’s visual language oscillates between parody and reverence. The repetition of the Chanel insignia—across skin, metal, and fabric—becomes both mantra and critique. The artist exposes the absurdity of desire engineered through repetition: how branding infiltrates not only commerce but also identity and self-worth.
Counterfeit Saints questions what remains when consumer devotion outpaces meaning. If luxury become liturgy, Nelson proposes that belief—like branding—may be the most persuasive illusion of all.
