Maggie West is an international photo and video installation artist presenting a series of early exploratory concepts for Fashion Trust US’s Awards Dinner in Los Angeles on April 7th. Her practice focuses on large scale immersive installations, with past projects for clients including Coachella, Amazon, Google, Canon and Netflix, as well as a range of museums and galleries internationally. The concepts shown here are intended as preliminary creative directions for a physical installation designed to cover the ceiling and visually correspond with the stage content. If commissioned, West would develop a fully realized design that seamlessly integrates the physical installation with the digital stage visuals to create a cohesive, immersive environment.
Flying Butterflies
The first concept features a ceiling installation of hanging butterflies, created from Maggie West’s archive of photographs of real butterflies shot under colored light. The butterflies would be fabricated from lightweight foam core board, allowing them to be easily suspended and ensuring the installation remains non-load-bearing for the ceiling structure. The physical elements would visually correspond with a digital stage backdrop that incorporates the same butterfly imagery, creating a unified dialogue between the overhead installation and the onstage visuals.
Floating Photo Spheres
The second concept explores a ceiling installation of hanging photo spheres, each featuring different images on multiple sides. Individual spheres could present contrasting backgrounds, such as a rich red on one side and deep black on another, allowing the visuals to shift as guests move through the space. The imagery would be drawn from Maggie West’s floral photo archive and designed to correspond directly with the digital stage backdrop, creating a cohesive visual language between the suspended installation and the onstage content.
Fabric Scrims
The final concept proposes a series of individual sheer fabric scrim panels designed specifically for the space. The exact design of each panel would be informed by its placement within the room and the total number of panels used, allowing the installation to adapt fluidly to the architecture. The overall direction would remain light, ethereal, and airy, with soft transparency and movement playing a central role. The scrim installation would be developed to correspond with the digital stage visuals, creating a layered, immersive environment that bridges physical and digital elements.
