Diorama, means dia ‘through’ + orama ‘that which is seen, a sight’. The concept was invented in France by Louis Daguerre and Charles Marie Bauton in 1823 as a large scale translucent painting exhibited in a darkened room. The idea, to produce the appearance of reality by using alternating lighting from the front and behind the image to simulate different weather patterns and times of day. Later, around 1902, another version of a diorama became a small-scale replica of a scene using three-dimensional objects and a painted background typically with one or more sides open for viewing purposes. Equally, diorama is attributed to natural history museum displays.
1. Daguerre’s full size 2-D, 2. Glass front miniature 3-D, 3. History museum full size 3-D
The following series titled, dollhouse vacation includes certain elements of historical dioramas yet takes us out of the open scenario and into shoebox sized enclosures exclusively for solitary viewing. It is only through a peephole that the voyeur can witness what’s inside.