Beatriz “BEACASSO” Valim, is a Brazilian-American Photographer and Digital Artist, based in Los Angeles. At a young age, Beatriz enjoyed drawing, painting, and writing stories. Practicing these different art mediums have shaped her to become the artist that she is today. Beatriz is inspired by each model she photographs and creates these colorful and stylistic photographs. Beatriz has been featured in many articles such as DAZED Magazine and VOGUE.COM.
Bigger than Life
Beatriz Valim’s “Bigger than Life” project. is a fusion between photography, digital art, and advertisement. In this project, she is inspired by the early 20th-century DaDa art movement. Beatriz was experimenting with different shapes, colors, and dimensions to create an original advertisement piece for a Gucci handbag. She then incorporates Gucci’s signature colors green, red, and gold to make it cohesive, vibrant, fun. When creating this project, she browsed through different fashion magazines such as Vogue and cut out different products that looked interesting to her. After, Beatriz precisely cuts them with an Exacto knife and later scans these magazine cut-outs into Photoshop. Once they were all scanned into photoshop, she then decides her favorite magazine cut out and uses it throughout the project. This became one of Beatriz’s favorite projects because she was able to express herself and create something bold, colorful, and bigger than life.
SG: Hi Beatriz! Thank you for taking the time out of your day to talk with me! How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your work? Is that was inspired you to take such a different direction with “Bigger Than Life”?
BV: The pandemic has changed so much for me. I haven’t been able to do a photoshoot since March, but it’s forced me to make the most of what I have from home. I have created so much work within January to March, I have been able to experiment with my photography and Photoshop!
SG: Like I said before, this project is very different than other projects I have seen from you. Do you enjoy changing directions like this? Are you still shooting while working on this project?
BV: This pandemic has inspired me to create “Bigger Than Life.” “Bigger Than Life” has been a dream project for as long as I could remember, but I’ve never had enough time to work on it. I’m grateful I’ve finally had the time to sit down and finally create it. I enjoyed every bit of this project and would love to do more of these in the near future! Although I have not shot any new photos for this specific project, I’ve created a whole new purpose for the images I’ve taken previously from January-March (before lockdown).
SG: You mentioned that Dadaism heavily influences you, what is it that attracted you to this particular style?
BV: I was inspired by the Dada movement for this project because it was something I enjoyed learning about in my 7th-grade art class (which stood out to me).
SG: Do you have a favorite image from your series so far? Is there one you resonate with you the most, or that you find the most powerful?
BV: My favorite image from this series is the one with my model’s faces coming out of the dress because it was the most fun yet challenging.
SG: What do you want viewers to take from this series?
BV: I want readers to know that although I haven’t been able to go out and create with models, I am still able to find creativity at home. Creativity is wherever you are.
To view more of Beatriz Valim’s work please visit their website.