I was born in Spain in 1976. I am a self-taught photographer based in Milan where I graduated in Foreign Languages and Literature. I have always had a great passion for art – I grew up surrounded by paintings and mirrors in my parents’ shop – and I initially expressed myself through painting. When I discovered photography in 2014 however, it became the medium through which I preferred to convey my inner world. I consider myself more of an artist than a photographer.
Since 2016, I have exhibited my works in group exhibitions and solo shows, both in Italy and abroad. My work has been published in several on-line magazines including ClickMagazine, the Spanish Thalamus Magazine or the newyorker Mystery Tribune, and included on web bloggers’ pages such as Barbara Picci.
The idea that life and dreams are made of the same substance is at the heart of my work, and it is necessarily the soul of my images. The mechanism of photomontage looks like the process of a dream and, in the same way, I pick up the pieces of reality and put them back together in order to create new worlds and situations that would otherwise be impossible.
Normally the woman who appears in my images is me. The reason is that I have always tried to look into my inner recesses in order to know myself, and I consider art the perfect medium for doing this.
I tend to use faded colours to emphasise the idea of life as a dream made up of elusive memories and sensations.
As with dreams, my images are full of symbolism: deserts, mirrors, animals… You will also find recurring symbols that represent an important part of me, my history and my thoughts.
SOLO EXHIVITIONS
2018, “The oniric Photography of Montserrat Diaz”, Spazio DVO_ ,MILAN/ITALY.
2018 “Ritratti senz’anima”, Galleria Interni Bonetti, TURIN/ITALY.
2019, “Atto poetico”, Galleria FIAF e Photoclub Eyes, MODENA/ITALY.
2019 “Tierra madre y otros”, Fototeca siracusana, SIRACUSA/ITALY
MIXED EXHIVITIONS
2016, Paratissima 12/NoPhoto, TURIN/ITALY.
2017, MIIT museum, TURIN/ITALY.
2017, MalamegiLab 7, Imagoars Gallery, VENICE/ITALY.
2017, Paratissima 13/NoPhoto, TURIN/ITALY.
2017, MAUTO museo del automobile, TURIN/ITALY.
2018, “Animali notturni”, Paratissima, BOLOGNA/ITLY.
2018, Sorrento Young Art, SORRENTO/ITALY.
2018, ImageNation, PARIS/FRANCE.
2018, Paratissima Art&Photo Fair, MILAN/ITALY.
2018, Paratissima 14/ N. I.C.E project, TURIN/ITALY.
2019, “Other Identity”, Primo Pino di Palazzo Grillo, GENOA/ITALY
2019, Bianco Festival della fotografia, Galleria d’Arte A51puntolab, ALESSANDRIA/ITALY.
2019, Asylum Fantastic Fest, Palazzo Doria Pamphilij, ROMA/ITALY.
2019, Paratissima 15/Phocus, TURIN/ITALY.
2019, Autoritratto, AD Gallery/ONART Gallery, FLORENCE/ITALY.
2021, MIA FAIR, AD Gallery, MILAN, ITALY.
2021, Arte in Nuvola, AD Gallery, ROMA,ITALY.
AWARDS
2017, 1st Place, Malamegi Lab7,VENICE/ITALY.
2017, Premio Mauto, Paratissima XIII, TURIN/ITALY.
2017, Premio Bonetti, Paratissima XIII TURIN/ITALY.
2018, PRS Talent Prize, Paratissima Art&Photo Fair I, MILAN/ITALY.
PRESS
2018, ClickMagazine, p. 6-17 and Cover , January, MILAN/ITALY.
2018, ThalamusMagazine, September, MADRID/SPAIN.
2019, “The mysterious world of Montserrat Diaz Photography”, MysteryTribune, Spring, NEWYORK/USA.
2020, “Il corpotempo”, Gente di fotografia, N° 74. MODENA/ITALY
COOPERATIONS
Fuori Asse – Online magazine of Literature (numbers: 12, 13, 17, 20, 22).
Malamegi – First Prize award march 2017.
Plan Buy®- Delicati disvelamenti/Design: Studio ATA/ Photography:Barbara Corsico. My art works “Sogno Lucido”, “Tierra madre”, “Ritratto senz’anima – lei” e “Il mondo riflesso. Di ricordi e di ombre” have been chosen for the decorative arrangement of a renovated flat in Turin.
ARTICLES & ONLINE ISSUE
2017
- 28/03/2017 – http://www.giornalemetropolitano.it/poesia-e-raffinatezza-nelle-opere-fotografiche-di-monserrat-diaz-mora/
- 03/05/2017 – ARTEVITAE, blog. Interview by Luigi Coluccia https://artevitae.it/montserrat-diaz/
- 22/09/2017 – Blog di Barbara Picci
2018
- ClickMagazine – Copertina e articolo (1/1/2018 )
- Spazio81
- The 405
- Circle Quarterly Art review ⁄ Winter 2018
- Scriptphotography – Pagina Facebook, articolo di Giuseppe Cicozzetti – 30/03/2018
- Progettoitalianews
- Thalamus Magazine, N°3, september 2018
- LINK PRESS
2019
- Newyorker Magazine, Mystery Tribune
2020
- Italian Magazine Gente di fotografia, N°74. “Il corpotempo”.
Guido Foscolo, storico dell’arte, Curatore e Gallerista presso la Galleria d’Arte Folco di Torino, in occasione della collettiva tenutasi al MIIT (18 febbraio-4 marzo 2017) scrive:
Elegante, rigorosa, dalla tecnica raffinata, la fotografia, oggi come ai suoi esordi, ha il compito di emozionarci con uno scatto, scrivendo una storia con un’immagine. Montserrat Diaz è attenta alla composizione, che non segue una linea prestabilita, ma si rinnova di volta in volta in base alle sensazioni che l’artista desidera comunicare e fermare sulla pellicola. Una fotografia classica e al contempo sperimentale, nuova, dalle atmosfere a volte metafisiche, altre surreali, sempre alla ricerca del sogno, di un’onirica presenza nel mondo. Montserrat però non si limita ad osservare e riprendere, ma elabora un pensiero, una scena, un soggetto nello spazio, definendo con personalità universi intimi e scenari universali. Dal ritratto al paesaggio, dagli interni silenti agli indefiniti e liberi orizzonti, al di là del soggetto rappresentato la protagonista resta l’autrice, così presente, identificabile, unica come una firma, come la sua percezione del mondo e della vita.
SOCIAL LINKS
montserrat diaz images 