Tragedy and Dreams in Photography by Monia Merlo

Monia Merlo - lost - red dress cover

Monia Merlo is an Italian photographer whose fine-art portraits of women wordlessly explore emotion. Through specific location choices and the use of natural lighting, she recreates the dreamy atmosphere of pre-Raphaelite paintings. The selection featured here recalls John Everett Millais’Ophelia”; women float in ponds, their bodies mingling with vegetation and dark waters to create ecosystems of sorrow. By hiding the face, Merlo reveals how the soul erupts through the landscape of the body.

Monia Merlo - woman in dress in dark lake

Monia Merlo - end of time - feet

Monia Merlo - water in leaves

Monia Merlo - in a dark lake - blue flowers

Monia Merlo - green dress

Monia Merlo - lying on grass

Monia Merlo - Labyrinth

Monia Merlo - another story

Monia Merlo - sadness

Images © Monia Merlo