HELLO, I'M MARIJA.
But I go by mar. Mostly because it's small, simple, and easier to pronounce. But also because it means the sea in spanish and that's poetry to me. I'm super into adventure--like, I'm hungry for it--and beauty is one of my deepest values. Apart from this business of painting and photography, I'm currently a student studying English writing with a creative focus, and hope to someday write poetry and stories while traveling and teaching. I would also like to live out of a van, I freakin love simplistic living.
WHY SHARE MY ART?
I'm honored to use my artistic gifts to give back, to make a moment inexpressible come alive. If that's photos of us exploring, or if we're working on a vision for a painting together, great. I just wanna make art, and for a purpose. The reason I'm here is because of the tremendous power of relationship-and behind that relationship, LOVE. And wow, am I IN LOVE with life, with the people in it. I am endlessly curious about how we work, and how we don't sometimes. I guess that's why I keep coming back to art, because beauty is perhaps the largest avenue of hope on earth, and it's a glimmer of heaven to experience it. I've found that the deeper I listen and the more I look, the more every single thing has something of beauty, the very face of God.
God has filled me with more passion and empathy than I know what to do with, so I'm here hoping to share it with you all, those who will have me. To be the observer of your memories in order to find that beauty and make it something you can hold.
PHOTOGRAPHY
More than anything with photography I want to shed light on what's already beautiful rather than imitate it. This is THE Creator's work I am capturing--not my own. I am drawn to beauty, and it's perhaps my largest ministry to honor the characteristic of God, with all the human mess included because I believe that's a direct way to see more of Him. I want every trashcan and flaking inch of paint. I want the wrinkles and the crooked teeth, because it's what's honest. The rich, dirty soil of the thing.
Documenting is no small task to me. The hidden moments full of emotion are what we remember most looking back. Reality isn't stiff limbs and framed smiles, it's your best friend looking at you, beaming, getting ready without you noticing. Yes, it's the look on your partners face while you walk down the aisle but it's also that same look when you spin around the flower girl on the dance floor and you don't even notice them enamored by you. My goal for every shoot I do is to be a mere observer, putting my best foot forward into your shoes becoming acutely aware of what matters to you.
There is such depth in love, so much that I won't attempt to be the complete carrier or representing it, but with my hopeful little hands I wish to offer just a bit of that back to you. I wish that you can look at your finished gallery knowing that you have something reminding you what it is to be seen and loved as you are. Not what you should be, could be, or were. If you want organic, raw photos of real people, real life, I'm your girl.
PAINTING + POETRY
{COMING SOON!}
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