Monica Silva

Monica Silva is a Brazilian self-taught photographer. Her first steps into photography happened in a very young age, shooting with polaroids and instamatics cameras. Keen of experiments in photography and specially on staged psychology portraiture, she creates complex projects on how the conflict between the existential and cultural daily life has a grip on the psyche of contemporary society. Her works often inspire to great masters as Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dali, Caravaggio, Horst P. Horst, Man Ray, Jeanloup Sieff, Peter Witkin, Andy Warhol.
Monica is a direct descendant of the Guarani tribe,  from Spirito Santo region on her mother's side, and grew up in São Paulo, Brazil. In 1986 she moved to London to complete English studies.

INSPIRATION AND CAREER

A spirit curious and thirsty of 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 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.

PUBLICATIONS

Numerous publications with her signature, including: 
"No News, Good News" G. Colin (Rizzoli)
"It's a Nikon, It's an Icon" 100 years of Nikon in the eyes of 100 photographers
"Facce da MAC "(Apple) Alberto Pucci (Mondadori)
"Art Book” (Libreria Bocca 1775)
"Shooting Yourself "Haje Jan Kamps (Contrast ed.)
"Fotostorie" La Lettura (Corriere della Sera Foundation)
"Mythographies" G. Colin, San Marino  Unesco 
"Libertà Perpetua" (Minerva ed.)
"Il Panino dal Mare" Alessandro Frassica (Giunti Ed.)
"Le Voci dei Libri" Ezio Raimondi Cover picture (Il Mulino ed)
"Maionese di fragole" Moreno cedroni Cover Picture (Mondadori ed)

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 ehibition) Fondazione Maimeri at M.A.C (Milan) - Stefano Boschi house museum in the comtemporary 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 nad public intitutions in Italy and abroad.

TALKS AND CONFERENCES

TEDx Rovigo Keynote speaker 2017
Lucca Photography Festival - Psychology in portraiture (Lucca) 2010
Università Popolare di Camponoogara - Secrets of Portraiture (Venice) 2016
Università Popolare di Camponogara - Portraiture in the times of selfie (Venice) 2018
Foiano Photography Festival - Were you born creative or you learn it? 2010
Corriere della Sera UNIVERSIDAY  - How Photography Changes the World  (IULM Milan) 2015
IULM - Portraiture in the History of Man (Milan) 2016
IED/TAU VISUAL - Creative Portraiture in the Era of selfie (Milan) 2018
CIRCOLO FOTOGRAFICO MILANESE "Portraiture" (Milan) 2019

CORPORATE WORKSHOP MASTER: 

Manfrotto School of Xcellence - Psychology Portraiture - 6 editions (Milan - Bassano del Grappa)
Nikon School - Psychology Potraiture - 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 - Lisbone - 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