The Past is a Very Weird Country in these Manipulated Photos

There’s a tendency, when we view photographs of people who are no longer of this world, to project our imaginations onto their lives. Australian photographer and artist Jane Long has done just that, digitally colorizing and manipulating the glass plate photos of Costic Acsinte, a Romanian documentary photographer whose work dates back to World War I.But Longtakes that impulse several stepsfarther, into the uncanny. Where most colorization simply aims to updateaphoto’s subjects, Long transplants them to an entirely fantastical — yet strangely familiar —universe in a series she callsDancing with Costic.

Costic Acsinte’s original photo used in Jane Long’s Innocence

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Left: Tnr (1940) by Costic Acsinte, Right: Beacon by Jane Long

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Long’s creations possess aSeussian playfulness, whilealso feeling like unnerving fever dreams. Either way, Long has done aspiring photo-manipulation artists a service by making videos of herprocess. The results are absorbingto watch.Long’s work will be on display at the Ballarat International Foto Biennalein Australiafrom August 22 to September 20, 2015. But if you can’t make it to Australia, scroll downto see more before and after images of her work.

Left: Miri cu nai by Costic Acsinte, Right: Neptune’s Bride by Jane Long

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Left: Image from the Costic Ascinte Archive, Right: The Idea Farm by Jane Long

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Left: Image from the Costic Ascinte Archive, Right: Tall Poppies by Jane Long

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Left: Image from the Costic Ascinte Archive, Right: All Hands on Deck by Jane Long

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Left: Circari by Costic Acsinte, Right: The Juggling Act by Jane Long

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Left: Image from the Costic Ascinte Archive, Right: Singalong by Jane Long

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(h/t designboom.)