BIOGRAPHY

Mari Calai is an American artist of Romanian origin, born in Bucharest in 1979. She studied photography and finished The New York Institute of Photography, NYC in 2012. She has lived in Romania, Italy, S. Korea and she currently lives and works, in Northern Virginia, U.S.

Mari’s oevre can’t be reduced to a single style, theme or genre. Her necessity to move across oceans pushed her to reinvent herself over and over which became a main focus. Her photographic approach was influenced and altered by her study of drawing and painting, always testing the boundaries between them. Through still lives, abstracts, surreal landscapes and daily moments as a form of meditation and self-exploration, she explores themes of impermanence, imperfection, longing, and inner self. She is a thinker, a seeker and a doer whose preferred stage is nature, her studio and the darkroom.

Mari is the author of two photography books, published in Seoul, S. Korea and Washington D.C. Her latest book, DOR, explores the theme of longing, and is in the permanent collection of Mary Riley Public Library, Falls Church, VA and Gallery Conceal Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. She is an international award-winning artist with her most recent exhibitions in Seoul, S. Korea, New York City, and Washington D.C. Her works are held in private collections all around the world.