On Instagram Paula Amenta is called Menta y lunares, which in Spanish means mint and moles. Those two words already say something about the artist: a common thread which holds together the beauty of the body, skin and nature.
Paula Amenta is a photographer and art director based in Barcelona, who works in different fields of photography, with a special interest in still life and fashion. These might appear as completely different genres, but Amenta managed to find a fascinating combination of the two. She devoted her life to music, until she began to need a space where she could create freely without so many rules and restrictions: she found photography. From that moment on, taking photos became her profession.
She's also a climate activist and feminist, and she focuses her work on conscious projects, with ethical values and a particular attention in showing the female body in a real way. Her gentle touch, made of pastel colors and a dreamy ambience, is always recognizable and welcomes the viewers to a very private, but comfortable space. We finally enter into an intimate world, made of delicacy, kindness, meditation and scents of flowers.
Her pictures portray a deep bond between body and nature, a visual connection which emerges in the details, with a fine sensitivity. The texture of the fruits and flowers seem to revoke the human skin, with its porosity and smoothness, with freckles and moles. Bodies and elements of nature are both real and change according to time and the environment around them. Amenta wants to remind us that our bodies are a whole with nature, they belong to it, and we should honor them. The natural, the alive are the recurrent element in almost all of her photos and her major inspiration, which give meaning and significance to her work.
When I photograph a body, the most important thing for me is to respect its natural beauty
In Amenta's photos, the female body is represented like a sacred space, with its different shapes and lines, often homaged by the presence of flowers. Women are looked at by a kind and respectful gaze, which doesn't manipulate or sexualize their presence.
"When I photograph a body, the most important thing for me is to respect its natural beauty" Amenta said. "I think that as photographers we have a great responsibility to communicate and show diversity".
Photography for Paula Amenta is a tool of expression, which allows her to freely navigate the topics she is passionate about.
The way she envisions the world changes and mutates together with herself and spirit. "Over time I love to see this evolution that reflects the things happening in certain moments of my life". She recently became a mother. The maternity experience has given her the sensitivity and the desire to start a new project, where she will explore motherhood and childhood, with portraits and editorials.