Melisa Salas

Artist Statement

Like a kid in his process to understand the world, curious about the unknown, naive in the first approach, without judgment towards the new experience, trying to make sense of what happens around him and collecting this information as little treasures in his head. That’s how I make photographs.

Biography

Melisa Salas (b. 1984) is a Venezuelan photographer, currently residing in Brooklyn, New York. Studied Audiovisual Arts at the Católica Andrés Bello University and Photography at Roberto Mata School of Photography, both in Caracas, Venezuela.

On 2012 graduated from the General Studies Program at the International Center of Photography in Manhattan, where she was awarded the Caryl Englander Scholarship.

Salas’ photographic practice has documentary roots with a conceptual approach and works in the food photography industry as well. Her work has been exhibited in a solo show in Caracas, “Mirada Arriba” (2011), and in a group show at the International Center of Photography, “My Truth, your truth” (2012).

Immigration Tales

There once was a man who dreamed of a land where the grass was greener, the birds sang every morning and the job market was robust with plentiful salaries. Then there was another man, and a woman… until there were thousands, and millions. But in this case the story is much quieter.

From the first day I approached Mickey he told me his whole story. He never censored himself even though he was talking to a complete stranger. He told me he was from India and that even with an MBA he determined to be apart from his wife and kids and come to the USA to follow the American dream so he can provide a future to his loved ones. It made me think about how circumstances can make you take extreme decisions.

This is just one of the millions of immigrants who leave their homes and jump through hoops in search of a better life. My goal is to have a bigger understanding of their life through several stories, and make a series of books. Just as simple little tales for children that have moral lessons behind, this book-form emphasizes the irony of the drama hidden behind these happy characters.

My wish is to serve these men and women as a vehicle of communication and create sensibility in the people that walk by them every day. How else will we know what other lands will Dora discover? What will happen with Hello Kitty’s children and Cookie Monter’s debts?