About him

Marcelo Monreal is a Brazilian visual artist and photographer known for his unique approach to digital art and photography. He combines elements of portrait photography with surreal and sometimes abstract digital manipulation. Monreal often incorporates nature, architecture, and surrealist imagery, blending human faces with intricate designs, textures, and natural elements like plants or animals, creating visually striking and thought-provoking compositions. His work tends to challenge traditional boundaries in portrait photography, making him a distinctive figure in contemporary visual art.

Marcelo Monreal’s floral portraits are a captivating series where he merges human faces with vibrant, intricate floral elements, creating surreal and symbolic images. The portraits typically feature human subjects with portions of their faces or features replaced or integrated with flowers, leaves, and other organic elements.

How he links to identity

Marcelo Monreal’s floral portraits deeply explore the theme of identity by merging human faces with organic elements like flowers, leaves, and plants. This fusion reflects the fluid and multifaceted nature of identity, suggesting that it is not fixed or singular but rather something that evolves, grows, and changes—much like nature itself.

1. 1. Transformation and Growth: By incorporating flowers and natural elements, Monreal evokes the idea that identity is a process of continuous growth and transformation. Flowers, which bloom, wither, and regenerate, mirror the way human identity can change over time, influenced by experiences, emotions, and external factors.
2. 2. Connection to Nature: The integration of nature into human features hints at the interconnectedness between people and the world around them. It suggests that identity is not just individual but shaped by the environment, culture, and the broader ecosystem in which one exists. This can be seen as a commentary on how identity is shaped by external influences, both personal and societal.
3. 3. Fragmentation and Wholeness: In many of Monreal’s floral portraits, parts of the face are replaced with flowers or plants, symbolising the fragmented yet cohesive aspects of identity. The way the flowers fill in or replace human features may imply that we are never wholly one thing, but rather a mixture of different elements—some visible, some hidden—that contribute to our sense of self.
4. 4. Symbolism and Emotions: Different flowers carry symbolic meanings, such as roses for love, lilies for purity, or sunflowers for vitality. By associating these flowers with human faces, Monreal invites viewers to consider how identity is influenced by emotions, memories, and personal stories. The flowers may represent facets of a person’s inner life or emotional state, suggesting that identity is not just physical but also emotional and psychological.

In summary, Marcelo Monreal’s floral portraits use nature as a metaphor for the evolving, interconnected, and multifaceted nature of identity. By blending the human form with organic, ever-changing elements, Monreal captures the complexity and fluidity of what it means to be human.

What Marcelo Monreal has said about his project

Marcelo Monreal has shared insights into his floral portraits project, expressing that it is an exploration of the relationship between the human being and nature. In interviews and statements, he has emphasized how these portraits reflect his fascination with the fluidity of identity and the interconnectedness of humanity with the natural world. He views the human face as a symbol of identity, and by incorporating elements like flowers and plants, he aims to redefine traditional portraiture by highlighting the organic and evolving nature of who we are. He sees flowers as metaphors for human emotions, growth, and the cycles of life, and uses them to convey how identity can be shaped by both internal and external forces.

Through this project, Monreal invites viewers to question the boundaries between the human form and nature, suggesting that identity is not static but rather a dynamic process, constantly influenced by both our inner world and the external environment. The blending of the face with nature is also, for Monreal, a way of challenging conventional notions of beauty and exploring the fragility and strength inherent in both humans and the natural world. Overall, Monreal’s floral portraits are a reflection of his desire to capture the complexity of human identity through the lens of nature, symbolizing growth, transformation, and the transient yet interconnected aspects of life.