It's an exhibition inspired by a Lewis Carroll character and it takes art lovers into a curious world of distorted light and shadow reflected through the mediums of photography and jewellery.

'Through The Looking Glass' features work by Bermudian photographer Amanda Temple and jeweller Alexandra Mosher, and is at the Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation (KAF) until December 15.

The theme was inspired by Lewis Carroll's character Alice from the 19th century novel 'Through The Looking Glass'.

"Alice is onto something," said Ms Temple. "She spends her days musing over what might be beyond the looking glass, and to her astonishment, she is actually able to pass through and be part of an alternate world."

Like Alice, Ms Temple has also seen some weird and wonderful things on her travels around Europe and while travelling she found an interesting way to include herself in the images she captured.

Rather than ask people passing by to take a photo of her, she decided her reflection would create more interesting portraits. Over the past ten years she has shot hundreds of these.

"Some are far more successful and amusing than others," she said. "But these multi-layered images have always intrigued me.

"We spend much of our lives looking through windows, in the mirror and at distorted reflections in an infinite number of shiny objects."

Ms Temple has been working as a photographer for 20 years. Much of her work today is experimental.

"Despite the constant improvements in image quality, I now find myself drawn to the effects of the old, medium format cameras like the Holga."

She said the Holga was originally created in China in 1983 to provide an inexpensive, mass-market camera to capture portraits and family events. In the West, photographers took to it for creating artistic, almost surreal landscapes and street scenes. She liked the antique feel of old photographs the distorted images with darkened edges, blur and light leaks.

"I thought it would be interesting to shoot Paris this way," she said. "Without actually having a Holga though, I deduced

that a looking glass just might yield similar effects."

She bought one off the website Ebay for £2 and it arrived just in time to shoot a few tests of some tulips dying on her dining table.

"One of the magical things about digital technology is that you can see the results immediately," she said. "I was able to see the effects as I was shooting and make adjustments using different lenses, settings and distances to alter the images."

Ms Temple originally wanted to be a ballerina, but as fate would have it, she injured her knees and had to stop.

She literally had her head in the clouds when she decided to try photography. "I was in a hot-air balloon floating over the vines of France, and photographed the balloon's shadow cast on the ruin of a chateau," she said. "At that moment I knew what I wanted to do."

She returned to university and in 1991 she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in photography and has been shooting ever since.

Since then she has exhibited her photographs and paintings in several solo exhibitions and group shows at the Bermuda Society of Arts, the Bermuda National Gallery, Elliot Gallery, and Masterworks Foundation.

She has worked with corporate and private clients and galleries in Bermuda and the United States and her work has been selected for the last five Biennial exhibitions at the Bermuda National Gallery. Her work has appeared in local publications and overseas in Harpers & Queen, Town & Country, Modern Bride and The New York Times.

This summer she returned to Bermuda after living in London for a year. "I spent countless hours wandering the labyrinth of little lanes flanked with history," she said. "Each day, I found a new street not yet visited, with ever more interesting facades. My London time was wonderful and an incredible opportunity to grow as an artist."

The time away from Bermuda gave her a renewed passion for art and refreshed her interest in Bermuda themes. This is not the first time she has exhibited with Ms Mosher. "We have both grown enormously as artists since our last show together in 2006," said Ms Mosher. "Since then I have also travelled trough Europe, spent six months in New York taking jewellery fabrication courses at Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) and the Jewish Community Centre (JCC) Manhattan, and attended an intensive workshop with a master jeweller in Maine. "My work is at an entirely new level with both high end unique pieces as well as more affordable gift items that are perfect for Christmas presents."

Ms Mosher said the looking glass theme offered her a multitude of creative avenues.

"Bermuda is our Wonderland," she said. "If Alice sat on a South Shore cliff with her toes dangling above the swirling waters, and cast a glance down what would she see? I was particularly fascinated with the concept of looking into a cool clear tide pool to see what lies beneath." Through her jewellery she wanted to capture the haze of swirling sand inside boiler reefs and worn limestone.

Her latest collection comprises both unique and limited edition pieces that were all hand crafted in her studio at KAF.

She has created hand fabricated art jewellery with organic motifs out of vibrantly coloured gemstones set in silver and gold.

Ms Mosher received her Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts and French from Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, and has shown her photography, oil painting, and installation work in group and solo shows in Bermuda, France and the United States. "My intention is to take art off the wall and place it on the body, moving and interacting with the wearer and viewer, bringing about a new conversation around conceptual and functional art," said Ms Mosher.

The Kardias Foundation recently commissioned her to create a piece inspired by Bermuda sail training vessel Spirit of Bermuda.

All of the proceeds of this piece were donated to the Bermuda Sloop Foundation.

She also does painting and photography. Ms Temple and Ms Mosher will be hosting several artist afternoons in the gallery on December 8 and 14 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and on December 5 and12 from noon to 3 p.m.

The exhibition is being held in the Elliot Gallery at KAF. For more information telephone 542-9000 or go to websites www.amandatemple.com or www.alexandramosher.com.