SURREAL SELF PORTRAITS TAKE US TO THE EDGE NOW

MAIA FLORE

“No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness,” as Aristotle said, and it may be especially true of great artists.

The surreal images created by Maia Flore, push folly and whimsy to the edge.

Flore’s first series, “Sleep Elevations,” merged fantasy and childhood memory, to beautiful effect. Flore poses young women in levitation, lifted by oddly juxtaposed objects.

The “Situations Series” offers a grounded version of mind trips.

In her first book, “Rememories,” Flore presents a collection of memory/fantasy hybrids that track with her world  travels. She hides her face and highlights the color red in each of her images.

Flore’s hair is red. We see it pouring down a staircase, dissolving into coffee, seeping into her clothes.

Each image is a self portrait, posed in metaphorical situations. She dangles above the sea. She hangs from a cloud above Parisian rooftops. She rises above a magical bed. And more.

Born in the south of France, Flore’s great-grandmother Bruna became the first photo­grapher in the family. And while they didn’t know each other in real life, Flore was inspired by Bruna.

Flore’s images never show her face. Each invites the viewer to imagine being the subject.

To shoot her photos, Flore works with a camera on a tripod and a remote shutter release. She poses, trying to lose her sense of gravity on purpose. She balances on her toes, with her arms and head in graceful counter balance.

Flore studied at the Ecole des Gobelins, in France. See more of her works here.

Read more about Beautiful Madness in Beautiful March Madness: Ideas and Images, The Beautiful Madness of Fantasy Now, and Beautiful Foodscape Madness.

And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact Daily Fix posts.

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IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: by Maia Flore. “Marlette x Papier Tigre” Series.
2. Image: by Maia Flore. “Sleep Elevations” Series.
3. Image: by Maia Flore. “Situations” Series.
4. Image: “Maia Flore: Rememories,” book by Maia Flore. Courtesy of Actes Sud.
5. Image: by Maia Flore. “Sleep Elevations” Series.
6. Image: by Maia Flore. “Sleep Elevations” Series.
7. Image: by Maia Flore. Untitled.
8. Image: by Maia Flore. “Openings.”
9. Image: by Maia Flore. “Sleep Elevations” Series.
10. Image: by Maia Flore. “The Thermes du Mont-Dore, Auvergne.”
11. Image: by BN App - Download now!
12. Image: by Maia Flore. “Situations” Series.