Could you tell us the story behind the art work where you mix a women’s body with the beach
and what happened?
A lot of people ask me what the meaning is behind my photos, and the answer is simple: there’s no mean-
ing. My photomontages happen ‘by accident’, I don’t choose in advance what they’re going to look like. In
this case, I was looking at my travel photos from my family trip to the Bahamas back in 2007, and something
‘clicked’ in my brain when I looked at the photo of the beach. I don’t know how to explain it. I just noticed that
the sand was of a similar colour to my skin, and so I thought maybe it would look cool if I replaced the sand
with my body. I chose the stomach because it is wide and flat; I guess I could have chosen my back but I was
worried it would not be as obvious that it was a human body. Indeed, the belly button is crucial in this photo:
without it, it would be harder to see that it is a human body. So yeah, my photos are not born out of intricate
concepts or personal stories. They’re just brain farts. I don’t create to transmit a message or point of view about
something; I create to illustrate the infinite possibilities of the imaginary world. I create new worlds. The worlds
of my dreams
Tell us your story & who you are?
Monica
Carvalho
I have a very international background, which I feel very lucky about. I’m 25 and was born in Switzerland to
Portuguese parents. I’ve always been passionate about the arts in general. Since a young age, I’ve drawn and
painted at home and in studios outside of school.
I actually only started playing around with photos after I received my DSLR in my college years (see question
How did you start?). I enjoyed enhancing the images’ colours and doing superpositions (all within the cam-
era’s editing functions or the free photo-editing software Picasa). I remember the day that I was introduced to
Photoshop by a friend of mine - I got hooked straight away! I could edit the colour of eyes, copy paste bits of
photos, use the eraser and the stamp tool…
After college, I left my hometown to study in the UK (did a BA History of Art in Leeds, then a MA Design for
Communication in London). During those years, I juggled between Uni essays and photomanipulation, teach-
ing myself Photoshop tricks. The better I got at it and discovered new artists in the field, the more I created
photomontages. Around 2015, after getting really good feedback from family and friends, I realised that doing
photomontages could become more than a hobby. I created an Instagram profile, started selling prints online
and exhibited my photomontages for the first time, in London (Sprouts Art Gallery).
I moved to Berlin in 2016 with my boyfriend, who I’ve been together for 6 years and who’s been the biggest
supporter of my art - he appears in a LOT of my photomontages (8). We wanted to start a new life in this Ger-
man city, where the rent was cheap (compared to London), the startup scene vibrant and the art exciting. Berlin
is just awesome for anything art-related. I’ve been given many exhibitions opportunities, which I am extremely
grateful for. I’ve also met a lot of other artists and have evolved in my artistic style in a crucial way
Is there an artwork that you are the proudest of? why?
Intimasea is my favourite work so far, because of its simplicity of composition and harmony of colours.
It also got the most interesting interpretations; from ‘beach body ready’ memes (which by the way I am
absolutely against, read here) to ‘mother earth’ comments. I’m also quite proud of its name haha. I love
giving puns as titles for my artworks, it makes it even more fun and crazy. But my earlier works were titled
with random words, in order to confuse people even more.
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