Monica Silva is a Brazilian photographer. Her first photography steps happened at a very young age, shooting with polaroids and Instamatics cameras. Keen of experiments in photography and especially on staged psychology portraiture, she creates complex projects on how the conflict between existential and cultural daily life has a grip on the psyche of contemporary society. Great masters often inspire her works as Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dali, Caravaggio, Horst P. Horst, Man Ray, Jeanloup Sieff, Peter Witkin, and Andy Warhol. Monica is a direct descendant of the Guarani tribe, from the Spirito Santo region on her mother's side, and grew up in São Paulo, Brazil. In 1986 she moved to London to complete her English studies.
INSPIRATION AND CAREER
A spirit curious and thirsty for learning, she moved on to Italy where she has been living for over 30 years. For many years she worked on commercial projects, creating album covers for international music labels and editorial series of portraits of movie stars, musicians, corporate managers and politics published on international magazines and newspapers such as Max, Corriere Della Sera, Vanity Fair, Style, El Pais Sette, Istoè, Harpers Bazar, Vogue, Io Donna, Sunday Times Korea, Le Figarò, Veja Brasil, Dove Viaggi, The Traveller, Panorama, Rolling Stone.
GROUP & SOLO EXHIBITIONS: 2006: “Percorsi Illuminati” Mondadori Multicenter (Bologna) 2007: “People I Met”, Palazzo Mancini, (Town Hall, Cattolica) - “Body & Soul on Hi Key” Mondadori Multicenter (Milano) 2008: “Life Above All”, Mazzoleni Art Gallery (Milan/Lugano) 2009: “The women of Spoon River”, Abbazia di Pomposa, Stefano Forni art Gallery, Codigoro Town Hall, (Bologna, Codigoro) - “GEMLUC” group show, Mazzoleni Art (Montecarlo) - “Home, World” Foiano Photography Festival, (Foiano) 2010:“On My Skin”, Stefano Forni Art Gallery Arte Fiera Off, (Bologna) 2013: “My Hidden Ego”, Palazzo Pichi Sforza (Sansepolcro) - “The Butterfly’s Fall – Postcards from Tokyo”, Nuova Galleria Morone, (Milan) - “Beautiful China”, Nikon group show, Milan Town Hall and China Tourism Board, (Milan) - “See me Gallery”, Group show, (New York) 2014: “Lux Et Filum A Contemporary Vision of Caravaggio”, Reda1865 World Launch Event Casa Petra (Sao Paulo) 2015: “Lux Et Filum A Contemporary Vision of Caravaggio”, Instituto di Cultura Italia (Sao Paulo) - “Banana Golden Pop Art”, MIA Photography Fair 2015, Still Gallery (Milan) - “Banana Golden Pop Art”, Affordable Art Fair, Gaudì Gallery (Hamburg) 2016: “Lux Et Filum A Contemporary Vision of Caravaggio”, MIA Photography Fair, Bianconi Gallery (Milan) 2017: “Banana Golden Pop Art”, Milan Design Week, Brazil S/A (Università Statale Milan) 2018: “Red Series/Fil Rouge” (Art in a Box group show) Galleria Schubert/Studio Bolzani (Milan) - “Female Photography” collective exhibition at Spazio Tadini Museum (Milan) 2019: "Photo Rocks" Milano Photo Week - Le Park (Milano) 2019: "Sacro and Profano" (solo exhibition) Fondazione Maimeri at M.A.C (Milan) - Stefano Boschi house museum in the contemporary art collection with the picture "Invocation to the silence" a personal view of Giorgio De Chirico 'School of the Galdiators'.
Her works are collected by private owners, museums and public institutions in Italy and abroad.
Manfrotto School of Xcellence - Psychology Portraiture - 6 editions (Milan - Bassano del Grappa) Nikon School - Psychology Portraiture - 10 editions (Bologna - Rome - Milan - Oslo - Egadi Islands - Rimini) Leika / NOC - Let there be Light - 1 edition (Milan) Hasselblad - My Hidden Ego - 6 editions (Tokyo - Milan - Porto - Lisbon - Monopoli) Ypsilon - My Hidden Ego - 2 editions (Sao Paulo, Brazil) Treoci - My Hidden Ego - 2 editions (Venice) IULM - Lighting in Portraiture - 1 edition (Milan) Paoletti School of Photography - Light in Nude Photography - 1 edition (Bologna)
AWARDS:
Honourable Mention for “Lux Et Filum A Contemporary Vision of Caravaggio” in 2014, IPA Awards Biennale International of Art 2011, Venice, Italy Best Picture “Dorfles infinito e lo sguardo a Ghirri” “Best Brazilian Photographer in Italy 2018” by Focus Brasil Foundation, Globo Group, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Brazil
SKILLS:
Psychology Portraiture - Expert in Great Masters' Art History - Public Speaking - Writing - Black Belt of Photography Lighting - Video Direction
Technologies: Mac - Adobe Photoshop - Adobe Lightroom
Spoken languages: Portuguese (mother tongue), English (proficiency), Italian (advanced), Spanish (intermediate), French (intermediate)
Monica Silva lives and works in Milan, Italy MONICA SILVA IS AMBASSADOR FOR MANFROTTO, NIKON ITALIA
MONICA SILVA PHOTOGRAPHY
Monica Silva is a brazilian born photographer specialized in psychology portraiture. She is based in Milan, Italy and is available for job assignments anywhere.