Symbiotes

Symbiotes is an ongoing photography and conceptual art series inspired by the transformative chaos of the film Venom—but reimagined through the surreal, seductive, and often unsettling lens of Council of Mischief. This project dives deep into the visual metaphor of control, possession, identity, and resistance.

At the core of Symbiotes is a striking visual setup: models partially engulfed in thick, vividly colored liquid latex, layered with sculptural details like sharp teeth and organic textural elements. These synthetic skins cling to their bodies like living entities, oozing over skin, muscle, and bone. Each model is captured mid-struggle, tearing at the substance as if caught between two selves—one human, one invaded. It’s not a horror series in the traditional sense, but a theatrical collision of fashion, body art, and creature design that blurs the boundary between beauty and monstrosity.

The concept draws heavily from the idea of the “symbiote” as a metaphor for the things that consume us—desire, power, pain, ego, transformation. In the Venom universe, the symbiote is a parasite, a sentient being that amplifies its host’s darker nature. In this project, the symbiote becomes a physical expression of our hidden selves—our shadow identities that live just beneath the surface, sometimes fighting to take control, sometimes begging to be released.

Photographically, Symbiotes is both performance and sculpture. The process of applying the latex is just as much part of the art as the image itself. Each shoot is customized: different colors for different emotional tones, unique latex flows, tailored textures, and exaggerated prosthetic features like jagged fangs or claw-like overlays. Some symbiotes are jet black and glossy, clinging like oil. Others are blood red, cobalt blue, or bone white, crawling across the skin in abstract trails that mimic veins, tendrils, or muscle fibers.

The models aren’t just posing—they’re acting. They’re caught in the act of transformation or rebellion, trying to shed their second skin or surrendering to it entirely. This tension creates a visceral narrative in every frame: vulnerability against invasion, beauty against monstrosity, identity against mutation.

Symbiotes continues Council of Mischief’s mission to explore surreal identity, fictional biology, and the boundary between the artificial and the intimate. It invites the viewer to question who we are underneath the masks we wear—what part of us wants to remain in control, and what part secretly wants to let the monster in.

This project is ongoing, and new variants of symbiotes are constantly in development. Some will be darker. Others, more sensual. A few, almost tragic. Each model brings their own emotional intensity to the process, shaping how the creature emerges from their body.

What’s growing inside you?

Scroll down to view the gallery and enter the world of Symbiotes—where transformation is not just a fantasy, but a performance you wear on your skin.

Downloadable Galleries