Body: (1) Everything that occupies space and constitutes an organic or inorganic unit.
It can also be seen as a vehicle for something: it takes us from one place to another, it allows us to move.
Skin: (1) [Anatomy] Membrane that forms the outer surface of the body of animals.
«The body needs the skin to exist and the skin needs a body to exist.
I prefer to think of skin as something deeper and even poetic than just an outer surface. It is the vehicle that allows us direct contact with the other.
The body allows us to be close. The skin allows contact. Privacy. Through the skin, we have access to smells, texture, touch. As if, with all these variables, it prompted us to immerse ourselves in this immensity of things that the skin brings us.
- Marisa Benardes
Although Marisa benardes lives in the wonderful city of Lisbon, was born in Luxembourg 28 years ago.
She does not remember the exact moment in which the photograph appeared in her life, but he does remember that the self-portraits did not yet have names and that neither did the selfies.
«If it's what you like, do it»Were the words she needed to hear from her mother to decide to study photography. There began the journey towards self-knowledge: Marisa uses the images as therapy.
She began to discover beauty in things that she did not like so much before and, above all, to establish a deep connection between her body and intimacy. This same bond is what allows you, in turn, to connect with others.
«For me, intimacy is a connection that two or more people can have by feeling something that can bring them together, often something that is not perceived or physical. Nothing to do with the more superficial or sexual side, but on a deeper level», Explains Marisa.
You need to feel close to the person you are photographing, which is why most of your work is autobiographical.
As a good introvert, she prefers to express herself with pictures rather than words.
This is how you seek beauty and acceptance through the body and skin as vehicles to something greater that is within all of us.
You can see all the work she has done for Nasei in a special series at his Web.