Photography: Mildred Salas
Artist statement:
“My work is an expression of my emotions. Sometimes my emotions are scattered and sometimes not.
I express myself best in black and white, yet there are moments when color is a must.
We walk through life and sometimes miss the beauty.
When we come to something that we gravitate to, it’s only for a fleeting moment. My camera allows me to revisit those moments.”
Background on this Series of Callas:
These photos were taken during a difficult time in my life. I lost everything: my husband died, my home was lost due to poor financial decisions, and my ‘home’ was placed in storage for many years. While living in a small room at my mother’s home, I snapped these photos. I had just picked up a Nikon D90 and started teaching myself how to use this newfound digital camera. I snapped these in natural light and the background was a black pelt. These photos helped me through not only the loss of my husband but my life as I knew it. From ashes, beauty is born.
The fragility and lyricism is what calls out to me. I would never have dreamed that this was natural light; that makes it even more dramatic for me.