Dara Scully
This week we are exploring the work of Dara Scully. Not only is her imagery intriguing, but also are her words. There is a mysterious presence in both the visual and written aspects of her many series. The ever-present ambience and surreal atmosphere draws you in, creates questions and desire to look further and explore this in-depth work she surfaces and stirs up. A world where children and people are not generalized, romanticised or categorized. The dark and uneasy air is balanced by a beauty that encompasses a calm and serene mood. A natural and real look into worlds we often oversee and choose to avoid is dissected and analysed. She writes of one series, "Sleeping Beasts explores the children's world, that special and disturbing world, in which innocence and desire, cruelty and tenderness, are so close."
Below is her bio, artist statement and sample several bodies of work. Be sure to check her out on Instagram and her personal website.
Dara Scully. 1989. Spain. photographer, writer, tree. "Forest creature, winter child. I like birches and aspen leaves. In my other life, I was a white deer, a fox or a swallow. I've never flown. I drink milk tea and my favorite word is chrysalis. My heart belongs to Chopin and my body to the horses, but I've never ridden any. I read Jaeggy, Nabokov, Duras and Müller. I read because it saves me. Once, I had a black cat. In a parallel life I'm a pianist or ballerina, or maybe a Lewis Carroll little girl. I love poppy fields and blackberries in summer. If I have to choose a sound, I'd say: the wind shaking the branches of the trees. Or rain. I always wear dresses and man shoes. I've written since I was thirteen. I'm afraid of moths. I have six moles in my pale chest." - Dara Scully
About Dara Scully
"There's a bird in my left lung, small and fragile, and he always speaks to me about beautiful things. I try to translate all these things to my pictures, his voice, mine."
Dara Scully (1989) lives in Madrid, Spain. She’s a self-taught photographer and a tree woman. She studied Fine Arts at Salamanca University and Photography at EFTI School (Madrid). Her photographs have been exposed on Madrid, Barcelona, London and Hamburg.
Available for commissions, projects and beautiful things: darascully@gmail.com
All Images © Dara Scully
