Monica Silva

Romantic Memories

Milano past and present: Soul portraits of a city that changes in the vision of its sons through family albums.

I started this project a bit out of curiosity and a little because I noticed that when the city empties for the holidays, the few people remaining in town, cling one to another in one great brotherhood. Since the beginning of August, my friends that are usually always busy during the year, used to call me almost every day for lunch, dinner or any other excuse. Paradoxically, when the city is on duty, we build up walls and we get superficial with our relationships. At that point I decided to investigate the lives of real Milanese, those few remaining in the city on 'ferragosto' or in the history of this great metropolis, the disapering few that still speak in milanese dialect. What I realized is that the milanese traditions is meant to be read in the books written over the millennium about Milan but the trace of it's citizen, the Milanese DOC, will not be long enough to tell by their voice, the stunts of the past of this city. I shot a few portraits of a bunch of elderly milanese people in my studio with a picture picked from their family album and I did 4 questions to be added with their portraits (I also interviewed them on video). It came out a portrait of a more human city than usual, lived with great love by it's citizen. Most the stories I collected will  likely be appreciated more in the future than now, but I'm sure that my work, almost an anthropological research, one day, not far away, will be an important find of memory. (Please also see the work done on Milan to complete this project http://www.msilva.photography/milano-lonesome)

All the images were shot from 18-19 August, 2016 - Monica Silva

Monica Silva is a 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 contemporary psyche of today's society.

Monica is a descendant of Tupi Guarani indigenous tribe and was raised in Sao Paulo in Brazil untill 1986 year in which she moved to London to complete english studies. A curious spirit and thirsty of learning, she moved on to Italy where she has been living for 29 years. For many years she worked on commercial projects, creating album covers for international music labels and a series of portraits of movie stars, musicians, corporate managers and politics published on international editorial magazines and newspapers as Max, Corriere della Sera, Vanity Fair, Style, El Pais Sette, Io Donna, Panorama.

Monica's works inspires to Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dali, Caravaggio, Horst P. Horst, Man Ray, Jeanloup Sieff, Gilbert Garcin, Peter Witkin, Andy Warhol.

Monica Silva has taken part in many important group and solo exhibitions: Life Above All, Mazzoleni Art Gallery (Milan 2008), Suggestions of Spoon River, Stefano Forni, Codigoro City Hall, (Bologna, Italy 2009), GEMLUC, Mazzoleni Art, (Montecarlo, France 2009),  On My Skin, Arte Fiera Off, (Bologna, Italy 2010), My Hidden Ego, (Sansepolcro, Italy 2013), The Butterfly's Fall "“ Postcards from Tokyo, Nuova Galleria Morone, (Milan 2013), Lux Et Filum A Contemporary Vision of Caravaggio, Instituto di Cultura Italia (Sao Paulo, Brazil 2014/2015), MIA Photography Fair 2015, Still Gallery (Milan 2015), Banana Pop Art, Affordable Art Fair, Gaudì Gallery (Hamburg 2015), Lux Et Filum A Contemporary Vision of Caravaggio MIA Photography Fair 2016, Bianconi Gallery (Milan 20165)

Nationality: Brazilian

Education: Campus Sales College, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Oxford House College, London UK

Awards: Biennale International of Art 2011, Venice, Italy Best Picture "Dorfles infinito e lo sguardo a Ghirri"

Monica Silva lives and works in Milan, Italy

MONICA SILVA IS AMBASSADOR FOR MANFROTTO AND NIKON ITALIA