Marta Blue – Darkness is Colorful

The photographs in this project were taken between 2017 and 2020. They are the prelude to a new project that I am developing and which will have mental health as its main theme. This is an introspective journey in which I compare my emotions and try to bring out my fears.

Darkness is colorful – for me, it is a collection of emotions, passing from death to seduction. I tried to convey specific sensations through visually simple and well-defined images. I decided to combine dark and profound themes such as loneliness, abandonment and fear, with sparkling colours, glitter and coloured lights. The intention is always to bring out the contrast between what is real and what you want to make believe it is real.

All the images I made are constructed; there is nothing captured by chance or random. There is always a specific intention to provoke an emotional reaction or a memory. My work, especially in this project, is a constant research on themes filtered by the power of our memories and the effect they have on people. I tried to filter delicate and intimate topics with images including very strong references because I want people to be rewarded visually, but also to recognize themselves in certain situations or emotions.

Marta Blue is a self-taught photographer based in Milan. She studied Communications at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan, and for the past year has worked as a full-time photographer and director. Her work has been published by Domus, l’Espresso, LensCulture, Elle Decoration China, Architectural Digest China, Huffington Post, l’Officiel, and Penguin Random House, and has been exhibited at PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai, Les Rencontres de la Photographie Arles, Paris Photo, ArtBasel, Tbilisi photo festival and Brownie Art Gallery in Shanghai.