Read more
What can be more inspiring and resilient than listening to a five-year-old girl who spent her life until then struggling with severe multiple food allergies, saying that when she couldn't eat strawberries, she pretended that watermelons were strawberries? Moments like this kept Sandra Bacchi strong and positive while facing the shadows that came to the surface when she became a mother. Watermelons Are Not Strawberries is a photographic memoir about the ups and downs of parenting and the surprising lessons about acceptance and healing we can learn from our children. The visual experience of moving from chaos to clarity is both vulnerable and relatable, giving the viewer a window into what it means to find peace and a little bit of hope.
About the author
Sandra Bacchi is a Brazilian, mixed-media visual artist based in Pittsburgh, PA. She blends documentary and conceptual photography with her cinematography background to tell her stories, weaving fiction into the truths to express more open-ended storytelling. Sandra's main focus is to explore how human beings interact with each other and how we can find similarities among ourselves.
Sandra's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and published in contemporary photography magazines and zines. Bacchi's photographs were part of exhibitions at the Carlson Gallery of Photography, Griffin Museum of Photography, Houston Center for Photography, among others. Sandra has attended several portfolio reviews, including the Review Santa Fe, and is a Critical Mass 2021 top 200 finalist.
Summary
What can be more inspiring and resilient than listening to a five-year-old girl who spent her life until then struggling with severe multiple food allergies, saying that when she couldn’t eat strawberries, she pretended that watermelons were strawberries? Moments like this kept Sandra Bacchi strong and positive while facing the shadows that came to the surface when she became a mother.
Watermelons Are Not Strawberries is a photographic memoir about the ups and downs of parenting and the surprising lessons about acceptance and healing we can learn from our children. The visual experience of moving from chaos to clarity is both vulnerable and relatable, giving the viewer a window into what it means to find peace and a little bit of hope.
Foreword
• Co-op available
• Review copies sent to ARTnews.com, Aperture, and other contemporary art and photo news outlets
• Promotion through publisher and author social media
Additional text
“Sandra Bacchi’s photographs portray contradiction through layers, rich lighting, and beautiful compositions. Quite simply, Bacchi photographs visualize what it feels like to be simultaneously isolated and connected, while honouring the delicate balance of nurturing and letting go. As a photography professor, the complexity, beauty, honesty, and unique approach to photographing this subject are what drew me to featuring her work as an example of "contemporary strong women" in my classes at Meredith College in Raleigh, NC.”
