Monique DiCarlo
Born and raised in the Netherlands, Monique DiCarlo moved to the US in 2000. The first time she handled a camera consciously was when her mom showed her a Siamese cucumber; she was entranced to see these two joined vegetables. Soon this was followed by joined mushrooms and finally years later by twin eggplants. Her first camera was a Pentax ME Super, with which she explored the city parks and new developments looking for the unexpected. Monique pictured quite a number of “lost” shoes and always wondered how that person would walk home and explain their bare feet. A funny beginning of an art career.
During her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam, she used mainly black and white photography and made nature pictures during hikes around Europe. In 1989 she received her BA in photography and graphic design from the Academy of Fine Arts. Her curiosity about different cultures has moved her around the globe. She has explored most countries in Europe, visited Thailand several times, as well as Sri Lanka and Hong Kong, and lived in Tokyo for a while; in 2000 she moved permanently to the US.
In the past years Monique has been exploring color and digital photography. Her images give the viewer a sense of the place or the object, and the ability to visually feel what is being seen. She focuses mainly on nature, still life, and what she refers to as “objet trouvé” (found object). She draws inspiration from photographers such as Brassai, André Kertész, and Josef Sudek.
She has had an interest in anything green and growing from a young age. This is reflected in her current work, a study of leaves. Monique: “I am mesmerized by the beauty of the decay of leaves. In just a few days a complete metamorphosis takes place. I follow the process of each leaf, as they are changing color and texture, until they become almost translucent, and all color is gone, and enter the last stage with a delicate lace quality before nature turns them into the food that the tree they came from needs to start making new leaves in spring.”
During the last phase she turns the leaves into pure black and white, since all color is gone and the leaf is falling apart. “It may seem awkward to call the process of decay beautiful. I get excited like a little kid in a candy store when I see the little holes between the veins disappear and the leaf starts curling into beautiful shapes, sometimes looking like a haute couture dress.”
Until recently she was reluctant to show her work. That changed when Mike Dooley (www.tut.com), one of the teachers featured in the movie The Secret, asked her if he could use one of her tropical leaves for the cover of his book “Totally Unique Thoughts”. She has been on a roll since embracing that opportunity. Her work has been in a group exhibition at the Children’s Studio School’s Urban Arts Complex in Washington, D.C., with the theme “alchemy.” Monique also likes to write and share her thoughts, views, ideas and passions with you. Her personal blog explores the spiritual and for those looking for healthy food ideas there is picky eater blog and if you're Dutch there is her Koetjes en Kalfjes blog. NEW! My unleashed & uncensored photo blog MOFOTO
