Meet Maria Mujica Cervera

Today we’d like to introduce you to Maria Mujica Cervera.

Maria, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My parents emigrated to the United States when I was very young. I have lived in Georgia for most of my life and grew up in the suburbs of Snellville. Art is something I’ve always been interested in, with drawing being my first love. During my time in public school (and high school specifically), I had a lot of other creatives within my friendship group, but I was the only one who went on to pursue a degree in art after graduation. I have always felt very lucky to have parents that have put enough faith in me to allow me to pursue a higher education and career in something I love doing. Especially since I know that’s not always necessarily the case for everyone.

SCAD was the only school I applied to once I graduated. Having done yearbook and newspaper in high school, I knew journalism was in my realm of interests so I decided to apply in pursuit of obtaining a documentary photography BFA and drawing minor. Although it’s certainly been far from an easy road, I’ve met a lot of really incredible people and have been taught by some of the best working professionals. It’s crazy how much my photography has developed from when I started, but it’s been exciting for me to learn more about myself through the process.

Currently, I’m working on getting my name out there and continuing to put out work. I got a good bit of recognition for my latest self-portrait series and it felt nice to realize that it was important to people other than myself. Having grown up in the States I’ve often found it hard to identify with beauty ideals or just who was pictured in the media in general, so I’d like to have other Hispanic women see my work and be able to see themselves too.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I think some of my biggest struggles have been remaining motivated. When I’m in school, the creative juices are definitely flowing, but I only have so much time to get school assignments done, that it’s hard to also find the time to start whatever other side projects that come to fruition from those ideas. I also have three jobs so it’s hard to find the time or energy to want to work sometimes.

The photo department at school is also really small. Once you’re in there, you know everyone even if you dont Know everyone. And while it’s cool to have so many other like-minded people to bounce ideas off of, sometimes it’s hard not to compare yourself and your work. Definitely trying to find your voice and being confident or just trusting your work seems to be an ongoing struggle for me.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
My company is really just my name. Although the majority of my work is photo-based, I don’t like to just label myself as a “photographer.” I’m just an artist. But it’s hard to not feel like you’re being so pretentious when you say that to someone!

A large part of my photography stuff is film-based, especially as of late. I had worked with film in high school, but I don’t think I ever really fully fell in love with it until college after taking my initial black and white film course and then the large format class that followed it. I struggled so much in both! Honestly, after both of those quarters were over, I was so fed up with film I really thought I never wanted to work with it again. But then I had other photo classes that I had to make work in and I realized that shooting digitally didn’t appeal to me as much as before. So I think film is really my niche, particularly black and white. There’s something so timeless about it to me and I feel like in some instances it’s so much more emotive than working in color.

I’m also really inspired by photos that have any hint of abstraction and surrealism to them so I think some of my work incorporates that as well. Thematically I think the more recent work just touches on the experience of being a woman, which doesn’t necessarily sound so unique, but I think especially with everything thats going on politically surrounding women’s rights, it’s more important than ever to put my story and experiences out there.

Eventually, I would like to branch out and work more abundantly with other mediums to reinforce the idea that you don’t just have to be one thing. I have a couple of mixed media pieces up on my Instagram as well as drawings. Those feel more personal to me on a different level than some of my photo work does because they’re all of close family or friends of mine. It feels like a different kind of intimate.

What were you like growing up?
I was always interested in art. My mom used to enter my sister and me into drawing contests all the time, mostly little local stuff. I think from a very early age, art was the one constant that I knew how to use in order to express myself. I definitely miss the fearlessness of being young and doing whatever you want (in this instance, creating) and being confident in it.

I’ve also always been very friendly. I used to talk A LOT to neighbors, strangers, etc. when I was younger. Like everyone, you always want to be liked and it’s cool when you know you have a lot of friends. But it’s also always been nice to be able to realize that you have the ability to connect with so many different kinds of people. You learn so much and live so many different lives through them.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/m_mcollective
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mmujicaphoto/

Image Credit:
Maria Mujica Cervera

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