marisa

The last time I saw Marisa on stage was last summer when she was literally bouncing around the stage performing theatre for young audiences as Jumpy the Frog with @UcalgarySCPA. I was more familiar with her dramatic work, so this struck me in a wildly different way. I’ve always been blown away by her willingness to explore levels of vulnerability on stage, often working in themes of loss, love and melancholy. The frog ended up serving for me as a testament to her range as a young actor for me. I cannot wait to see what’s next for her.

This shoot happened almost entirely because Marisa posted that she was going to chop her hair off - tho I’m not sure that ever happened. The texture and contrast in photographing long hair has always been one of my favourite aesthetics. Its been incredible to discover the impact of a single strand of hair strategically out of place - and this time there were many.

These shoots were always unstyled, leaving just myself and another to share space and ideas. I became more interested in looking at the hearts of people throughout this work rather than their assumed characters. I asked her to come as she was, hair a “weird mashup of straight and wavy,” and also chose to leave the flyaway hairs intact while photoshopping. Just look at how much personality a head of hair can embody. All of these elements made for a super rad shoot and a great time getting to know a young artist better while we joked about her love of spreadsheets, about how orange is the actual best colour, and her role in my RococoPunk Project.