Born in Romania in the 1980s, Mia Nazarie carried out numerous projects from the age of twenty. Presently she resides in France and continues her work there.
The composition of her photos is made from scripts on accessories, make-up models and decor. 
From the visual spectacle to the technique, everything is mastered. The most surprising for the viewer being that beyond the decrypted images, Mia Nazarie seduces the viewer by mystery, magic, excitement, tension, vibrations. The artist reveals the states of mind, “draws” on the essence of human nature and highlights inner beauty, gentleness, tenderness, sensuality, seeks the sublime.

With her talent for drawing and painting, she creates in her photography projects an obvious relationship with the plastic arts.
Passionate about reading, her favorite author is Emil Cioran. 

Hello, Mia! Can you tell us how you took this artistic path? What or whom introduced you to photography?

When I was 14 years old, my father surprised me with a present: a Russian photo camera, Zenit 11|50mm. I was thrilled, what a toy, is this really for me… well not immediately, I have waited for a while to be actually mine and I was motivated to make this happen as soon as possible. So I have learned all the basic theories that my father put on paper A4 size. I had earned and learned the right practice, it was a manual photo camera not a digital one and all the settings where on manually mode like shutter speed, aperture, Iso, the theoretical part was really essential.
Soon I was starting to practice photography for the first time in my life. I was creating artistic portraits of Moldavian girls which learned at the same school as I. My Moldavian school colleagues were living in a student accommodation, far away from their loved ones and families and they always wanted more and more photos. I was able to soon get into business at a young age and started to earn serious money. That’s how it’s all started and I was so proud and my father was even more proud!

What is the most vivid memory since you started? Maybe an event when something happened.

Hmm, it’s a bad one, when I almost dropped the camera trying to make the perfect photo being on the rail tracks with the train in the middle and getting’ closer! I slipped and hurt my leg but the most important, I didn’t drop the camera and the photo at that precise second it came out all blurred, that’s when I discovered new techniques. (laugh) I intentionally move the photo camera several times after that, I still do it with zoom objectifs now. I like to play and not playing by the rules.
It still happens sometimes when I’m very concentrated but in a very inconvenient situation or inconfortable angle, anyways.

Which camera was your first one and what gear do you use now? Would you pick Canon instead of a Nikon?

First one: Zenith 11|50mm. 
Present equipment : Canon 5Dmark III, 50mm.|  85mm. |70-300mm |12-24 mm |Canon 70D|17-55 mm.
There isn’t a winner! Both Canon and Nikon offer excellent cameras with solid image quality. If one brand offered a better camera every time, the other would’ve gone and disappeared from the business market . 

How would you describe 2019? As far as I know you helped making pictures for a book, tell us more details about it.

My 2019 was quite fully charged with work, many photography projects, some expositions and book festivals, lots of new meetings. Suddenly new people in my live but not too much time for making friends, to go out, any of that and I miss that! I want that! I’m very selective with people in general, I like to stay quiet about my life, about my future projects.
I enjoy the company of people from whom I can learn something great . I love friends who have the wisdom and patience to be able to know me in time. 
Everything is on the speed mood around, here and there, is no emotional connection between people. Art is about human connections, self expression, emotions, feelings. There is a lot of energy, time and work that is involved to be able to capture the human nature. Therefore for this is important for art to be recognised on all levels, including the financial side of it. At some level it has to become business and I think it’s great when people know that they don’t have to negotiate photography at extremely lower levels, people from here had to learn that from me as a person and also a business woman. So, constantly I am learning myself more about the people here, while they learned about me, from our interactions. From a country to another things can be different even in art. Some regrets, disappointments, wrong places to be. So 2019 was with plenty of highs and lows experiences that shaped me into a better person, rather than letting my anger get the best of me trying to see the good in those trying times. I think if you persevere through it all, you’ll emerge like a Phoenix from the ashes, it’s true. We learn, we always learn! 

Yes I was invited to work along with a german poet Maja Engler . So “Deliver Me” poetry-photography book was born. Everything started 2 years ago in the South of France, Rennes les bains et Ginoles, somewhere at the end of October. To understand more of this I will share here with you some presentation lines which are also included in the book.  
Maja Engler wrote the poems, being, at the same time the model for my underwater photography series. 

As for the project “Deliver Me”, the pictures, artistic nudes, were taken outdoor, under harsh conditions, during late autumn days. So while John Everett Millais had the opportunity to warm the water in the bathtub where Lizzie sat, using gas lamps, it would be virtually impossible for anyone to warm the water of a river. Maja Engler’s poems speak about the cold, the inner freezing, the soul abyss. How could she not speak of  her fear of the cold season’s arrival, when she is the embodiment of  Persephone? Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter, spends the warm season, half a year, above ground. She goes to the underworld for the other half, where she dwells together with her husband, Hades. She falls into despair when she follows her destiny and goes down, to the Inferno. When the cold season approaches, Persephone’s look becomes fearful.
She longs to break the spell.
Mia Nazarie’s pictures tell this story. 
The artist works with special care for precision and details, for the drama and the coherence of the story, for the expressiveness and the psychology of the character. She is a remarkably resourceful artist. 
On the other hand,
Maja Engler answers perfectly to the demands of the photographer. The creator of the harmonious verse unveils herself as an excellent performer in the non-verbal art. She is daring when needed, she is voluptuous during times of peace and waiting, which are mostly oneiric. In acting and in verse, she is a minimalist. Maja’s poetry is hermetic and, in response to this, time seems to be still in the underwater pictures. The artist Mia Nazarie uses details from nature to suggest the captivity of the character. The model is always framed  by leaves and dead branches and the water of the river is livid-dark.
Here and there, small patches of blue sky mirror themselves in the water of the lake, symbolizing the ray of hope.
Mia Nazarie has the inspiration to underline the sensuality of her model. She works like a skilled psychologist, coming up with an ideal solutions.” (Violeta Savu, writer, editor for “Ateneu” Literary Review)

What’s your favourite topic and why?

I live in a country where “liberté, égalité, fraternité” are supposed to be true words and facts… well, they are not.
Most of my favorite topics are about philosophy of life, mental health, human rights, meaning of life.
I believe in a better world, in the power to make a difference as a single person facing the entire world. I believe in kindness and true love. 

Did you collaborate with musicians? And if so, who are they? And maybe there is some musician who has a special place in your heart?

I used to collaborate with musicians, I have worked for some time in a jazz/metal club in Romania as a photographer. I still do those kind of collabs here at a musical recording local studio “Record It.” in Perpignan, current city. 
In my view people are amazing in this industry, all of them are great human beings, artists like me, special bounds are always included. 

Colour or black and white?

Black and white and colour, always, even since I have started, love them both equally, that will never chance and I have some rules about it. When I have a variety of subjects and complex compositions in just one image and everything seems so charged with all these “ingredients” this image will definitely be black and white. When I have a very dramatic face, a “unusual” artistic portrait it will look great in color, yes, but really amazing or even more dramatic in black and white. 

What else do you do in your spare time?

I paint kilometers when I’m sad, I read, I like to watch make-up and photography online classes or tutorials. I love to have long walks in nature where I can hear the water flowing and observing small insects, taking tones of pictures for my soul, holding someone’s hand.
I love sports, I love long video calls talks with my beautiful family that I love beyond words and the distance isn’t real because I feel them so close. 
I like listening to music and dance until I fall asleep.

If you weren’t a photographer what else would you be?

I would definitely love to work in medical field, dentistry, dental care by being a nurse, assistant. I’m very passionate about this since I was a child, I always loved the smell from a dental office even if I was afraid being on dental chair.
I think this environnement suits me just fine, the only major thing that will change for me is routine but I miss that in my life.

Thank you kindly for your time and answers! Was a pleasure talking to you and I hope to see you soon! Last words belong to you.

Thank you from the heart for taking the time to virtually meet with me. I think interviewing the artists everywhere in the world is important not only for them or their chance to promote themselves but because for who they are and the need to be understood by others, to share a small part of them with the world. Some of them have so much beauty to share and I truly believe that art can teach us so much and we need it because it can show us how just go into life with the ability to see beauty in everything and it teach us how to express our emotions towards others and how to be patient because good art takes time, precious time.
Thank you for the invitation Miruna! Thank you Cultartes team, I’m happy and honored to share a small part of my story with you, to be taking part of this! Hugs

Exclusive Photos for CVLTARTES:

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All images credit: (c) MIA NAZARIE

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Miruna Vitriol

Enthusiast writer at CVLTARTES
I am trying to become a better person by embracing my own weirdness.