Maria A. Verrier
Birds of Sorrow
My daughter left a Chinese proverb on my pillow one night. It read, “You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair.” The power and relevance of this statement provided the impetus for the series, Birds of Sorrow. This visual narrative explores the universal emotions of grief and the struggle to find meaning in death. We have all loved, experienced loss and been faced with a complex mosaic of overlapping emotions: anger, sadness, mourning, remembrance. Not beyond repair, we heal – we allow for the celebration of life by looking forward. These constructed images began deliberately dark and obscure, but I found that as the series evolved … in came the light.
In December my neighbor was brought to hospice. As I held her hand, she smiled and said, “I’ve had a really full life, and I’ve tried just about everything. This is one thing I’ve never done before. So I guess I’ll try it once.”
Artist Bio
Inspired by a single image at DeCordova Museum more than 10 years ago, Maria Verrier began her journey as photographer. Her deeply emotional connection with the medium fuels her enthusiasm for creating images that evoke the complexity, splendor and in some cases, the despair of our existence. A recent series “A True Self” was exhibited at the Rockport Art Association in 2015 as well as at The Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA. An image from that series was selected for the book “Family.Life” a project created by Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
A Boston native, Verrier’s passion to capture the beautiful decay found in abandoned and decommissioned industrial buildings has led to private commissions of historic landmarks located throughout New England. Her photography is permanently exhibited at Loft Five50, as well as Counting House Lofts, The Sibley Building in Rochester, New York, and the newly restored Voke Lofts, where 22 of her images are on exhibit in the gallery.
Several images from the Voke portfolio were featured in ArchitectureBoston Magazine in 2015. Additionally, her work was juried into a group exhibition at the Concord Art Association by Arlette and Gus Kayafas, and into the members show in March, 2016. Images from her portfolio, “Storyteller” were shown in the Photography Atelier 20 at the Griffin Museum of Photography.
In 2015, Verrier was selected as a commissioned photographer to launch Transition House’s 40 Stories Project, resulting in 20 portrait sessions for the year-long pro-bono project intended to raise funds and awareness for the domestic violence agency and emergency shelter in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
When she’s not making pictures, Verrier is a brand strategist whose experience includes work with firms within the architectural industry.
Contact Maria A. Verrier