Welcome to no. 46 in our series Poignant Pics where our editor, Diana Nicholette Jeon, writes about Da’Shaunae Marisa’s “004”

Echoes of Hockney…

I recently browsed the Diversify Photo account on Instagram, looking for something that caught me enough to write about. This image by Da'Shaunae Marisa lept off the screen at me. This one, "004," was featured in the 2020 Diversify Photo print sale. I immediately went to Da'Shaunae Marisa's IG account and then to her website. I found that she primarily does editorial and commercial work but started out doing illustration and graphic design. That's somewhat misleading, though, as her mother always carried a camera to take pictures of Marisa and her sibling and gave Marisa a disposable camera in first grade, with instructions to shoot the last day of the semester. However, I also found this series of personal works which she entitled "Instax" (some of which has added had hand-drawn animations in the web display, which added to the fun nature of the images.”) There were several I liked, but this one spoke to me the most.

Asked about this image, she told me, "My project involves creating miniature portraits with instant film. I analyze the personality of each individual before photographing them. I use a pack of Fujifilm Instax Mini to photograph different elements of the person that I think best represents their personality. I may also photograph a particular style to capture them as well. After I take the photographs, I spend time piecing each photograph together into a single piece of work. Using the Instax Mini allowed the project to gain more depth. It adds physical elements that people can touch. I varied the distance for each frame to create a layered effect." While her first effort used stapling, she continues experimenting with using other materials to fuse the multiple images into one.

While it nods to Hockney's joiners and photo collages and to Cubism, Marisa adds her unique flair to the work by primarily concentrating on the representation of solitary figures. She uses differing orientations, focal distancing, and scale. Some portions are cut-out, some are full-frame, and some have additions, such as the popsicle stick in this image. The latter two mediations take us into the crossfire between photo-object and photo-collage.

The images in the series are fun. I hope De'Shaunae continues this work, exploring and pushing it further. Bravo, De'Shaunae! I look forward to seeing more.

Artist Bio

I specialize in documentary, editorial and commercial photography. My main objective for my work is to make you FEEL. That feeling you get when you look at my photographs is all I care about. I want you to feel love, compassion, excitement, joy, wonder, bliss, curiosity. If I can evoke something meaningful from your soul I have fulfilled my purpose.

My creative endeavors started in illustration and moved to graphic design study for two years before pursuing photography. I have been interesting in photography since a young age. My mother always carried a Kodak disposable to photograph my brother and I. She gave me my first disposable in 1st grade to document my last day of school. I have been commissioned to photograph for The New York Times, Time, WSJ, Bloomberg, National Geographic among others. Along with photographing for clients I like to create public art. I enjoy wheat-pasting my photographs on buildings to inspire those in my community. Other than creating art for myself and clients I develop content on Youtube for my followers and students. My biggest passion of all is inspiring my wonderful students of the Cleveland Print Room. I have been teaching since 2017 specializing in digital and film photography. I take pride in the ability to encourage my students to live out their dreams!

More of De’Shaunae’s work can be found here: https://dashaunaemarisa.com/

Author Bio

Diana Nicholette Jeon is an award-winning artist based in Honolulu, HI, who works primarily with lens-based media. Her work has been seen both internationally and nationally in solo and group exhibitions. Jeon holds an MFA from UMBC.