June 25, 2022
Maura Sullivan | After Beauty
"After Beauty" is a book with photographs from the private archive of the American photographer Maura Sullivan released in 2022 by 1605 Publishers. Sullivan has graduated from Syracuse University and studied at the International Center of Photography in New York. Her main inspiration, when it comes to art creation, is poetry and silent meditative walks around her hometown, New York. Sullivan loves discovering hidden places of the metropolis where she has a chance to meet candidates for her mysterious and nostalgic portraits. "In college, I got a bad grade on one of my first portrait projects because it was out of focus. I was disappointed because I really liked the image", Maura recalls. Only later, when joining the International Center of Photography in New York, she connected with her art self by becoming obsessed with making portraits of family and close friends. This helped the photographer to express her vision more clearly and create more intimate portraits.
Being her second monograph "After Beauty" is inspired by a poem of an artist and a poet Walter Fields, which also begins the book. According to Sullivan, it's more than just beauty that makes someone beautiful, it's about personal experiences and stories that the person carries throughout her life.
The book is an edition of 500 copies including 100 copies of the Limited Edition (numbered and signed titles with an archival pigment print "Hand in the Rain"). "There is something magical about publishing that somehow makes the work more real. I love the conversations between the images on a printed page and the stories that unfold as you move through a book. I am so thrilled to share the pages of this book with some of Walter Fields' poetry..." - Maura shares.
Sullivan currently lives in New York. Her work is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and is widely exhibited in both solo and group exhibitions across the world.
After Beauty
Beauty's counter weight
Dark eyes falling, gesture, hands.
Infinitely joining key & lock & later maybe man.
Newton's only perfect proposition quietly realized.
Simply said: the true & trembling task.
Photo Credit: Alex Blanco
Get Maura Sullivan's book "After Beauty" published by 1605 Collective in our webshop here.