Sheila in Technicoloris my mother in my ear saying, “Don’t you want to add a little color?” At the time, I worked exclusively in black and white photography.
It was an extension of my life: “Don’t you want to add a little lipstick?” “Is that what you’re wearing?”
It is an acknowledgment of how my mother and grandmother were raised and, instead of fighting it, an acceptance of the colorful life I have had.
When my mother became ill, I decided to give her what she had always been asking for. I started wearing colors other than black, and I created a body of work centered on intense color and intense roles—on what it meant, and still means, to be a woman, a mother, a daughter, and a friend. I even gave my hair a little “poof.”
I realize now, as a mother myself, and as I hear myself saying, “Don’t you want to wear something a little less wrinkled?”, that she only wanted what she thought was best for me.
I’m not sure she realized what I had made for her, but at the opening, one week after her death, I was pretty certain she got it. She always did love a good opening.
About Marjorie Salvaterra
Marjorie Salvaterra was named one of LensCulture’s Top 50 Emerging Artists in 2015. Since then, her photographs have been acquired by many leading collectors around the world.
Salvaterra’s work has been exhibited at institutions and events including the California Museum of Art, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art / FlakPhoto, Nuit des Images at the Musée de l’Elysée, the Center for Fine Art Photography, and Rencontres d’Arles. She has also presented solo exhibitions at Ralph Pucci in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, and London; Van Rensburg Galleries in Australia; and the Griffin Museum of Photography.
Her work has been featured in publications including Black & White Magazine in the US and UK, Galerie Magazine, Architectural Digest, and Vogue Italia, among many others. Her book, HER: Meditations on Being Female, was published by Glitterati Incorporated.
In addition to her artistic career, Salvaterra considers her role as a wife and mother of two children and three dogs among her greatest achievements. She lives and works in Los Angeles, California, and is represented by Ralph Pucci International. [Official Website]
