I was raised on stories I didn’t believe, but wanted to – fairy tales and family histories that changed with every retelling. Through empty roads and conversations around kitchen tables, I learned that every moment is both discovery and loss. The facts of our lives become memories that we weave into personal mythology.
My photographs capture the imperfect humanness we shape into identities and connections. They show the cracks in our paste-together jobs and the celebration, confusion, heartache, and intimacy of our striving.
Open the box, unlock the wardrobe, look deep into the mirror. Lose your way. Find your strength.
Marico Fayre is an artist, curator, and educator, a founding member of Small Talk Collective and Strange Paradise Gallery, and co-founder of Poetica Press. Her work explores vulnerability, solitude, mental illness, LGBTQ+ identity, conservation, and the importance of place. She approaches art with a deep curiosity about the connection between makers and their impact on the world around them.
Marico works with artists and small businesses on branding, portfolio development, marketing, and the business side of being an artist. She is dedicated to supporting historically underrepresented voices including women, queer folx, and neurodiverse artists
Marico’s work has been exhibited internationally, including Newspace Center for Photography (Portland, OR), Center for Fine Art Photography (Fort Collins, CO), RayKo Photo Center (San Francisco, CA), 625 Sutter Gallery (San Francisco, CA), Gotham Arts Salon (New York, NY), Brooklyn Pride Center (Brooklyn, NY), Lightbox Gallery (Astoria, OR), and Bellas Artes (San Miguel de Allende, Mexico). Her images have been published in Diffusion Magazine, Shots Magazine, Color Magazine, ToneLit, Vogue Italia online, and others.
Currently based in Portland, OR, she works internationally and travels as often as possible in order to continue challenging how she sees the world and what she is able to discover–and share–through her camera.
You can see more on Instagram @maricofayre and @smalltalk_collective. Say hello below or email marico@mfayrephotography.com
Vitae.
SELECTED EXHIBITION HISTORY
2023. Old Futures Gone. Strange Paradise Gallery. Portland, OR. [collective]
2022. Ourselves, a Resurrection. Strange Paradise Gallery. Portland, OR. [solo]
2022. Pacific Northwest Drawers. Blue Sky Gallery. Portland, OR.
2022. Fill Your Cup. Too Tired Project. Woodstock, VT.
2021. Works in Progress. Strange Paradise Gallery. Portland, OR. [collective]
2019. Criminalize This! The Social Policing of Gender and the Criminalization of Queerness. Amos Eno Gallery. Brooklyn, NY.
2019. No Strings Attached. Blue Sky Gallery. Portland, OR. [collective]
2019. Small Talk: Rumors. Wolff Gallery. Portland, OR. [collective]
2019. Small Talk: Light Conversations. Oregon Contemporary Center for Photography. Portland, OR. [collective]
2018. We're Always Touching by Underground Wires. Pushdot Studio. Portland, OR. [collective]
2018. Call and Response: Art as Resistance. Photographic Center Northwest. Seattle, WA.
2018. Small Talk: Conversations. Oregon Contemporary Center for Photography. Portland, OR. [collective]
2017. Color: Photography Now. Black Box Gallery. Portland, OR.
2017. Unlimited. Pacific Northwest College of Art. Portland, OR.
2016. Introspective Landscapes. 625 Sutter Gallery. San Francisco, CA.
2015. The Politics of Voyeurism. Milepost 5. Portland, OR.
2014. Quixotic Nature. Gotham Arts Salon. New York, NY. [solo]
2014. Dapper Spring in Brooklyn. Brooklyn Community Pride Center. Brooklyn, NY. [solo]
2014. Perfect Wasn’t Bad. Empty Stretch and Hell & Gone. Brooklyn, NY.
2014. Visual Narratives. Center for Fine Art Photography. Fort Collins, CO. [Director’s Choice]
2013. Then.Now.Here. Photolucida. Portland, OR.
2013. emergence. Lightbox Gallery. Astoria, OR.
2012. Voyeurism & Intimacy. RayKo Photo Center. San Francisco, CA. [Honorable Mention]
2012. What Will You Reveal? Be*Mused. Portland, OR. [solo]
2011. Fragments of a Happy Marriage. Union Rose. Portland, OR. [solo]
2011. Memory & Metaphor. K & F. Portland, OR. [solo]
2010. Wide-Awake Dreaming. PhotoPlace Gallery. Middlebury, VT.
2010. Uncommon Portraits. PhotoPlace Gallery. Middlebury, VT.
2009. Memory & Metaphor. Umpqua Valley Arts Association. Roseburg, OR. [solo]
2009. Reflections. PhotoPlace Gallery. Middlebury, VT.
2009. Dreams and Fantasies. PhotoPlace Gallery. Middlebury, VT.
2004. Bildungsroman. Higgins Gallery. Portland, OR. [solo]
2001. at sixteen. Philip Feldman Gallery. Portland, OR. [solo]
PRESS: PRINT & WEB
2023. Lenscratch. July. Feature: Small Talk Collective.
2020. Off the Cost. Small Talk Interview.
2019. Separate Checks. Small Talk Interview
2018. Fraction Magazine. Small Talk Collective Book Feature.
2017. Capture Magazine. Sept/Oct. “Look at me: the art of self-expression.”
2017. Fraction Magazine. Issue 102. Feature: Small Talk Collective.
2013. [FRAMED] Network. Featured Artist, interviewed by Brooke Shaden.
2013. VJIC - Journal on Images and Culture. Issue 5. November. Featured Portfolio and Interview.
2013. Shots Magazine. 120. Summer.
2013. 5x5 Magazine. July.
2013. ToneLit. Issue 2. Spring.
2012. 5x5 Magazine. March & December.
2012. Diffusion. IV.
2011. Shots Magazine. 113. Autumn.
2011. Method Press. Issue 03. “A Moving Target.”
2010. COLOR Magazine. Single Image Competition Bronze Award.
BOOKS
2022. And Then the Flash with A Hunter Sunrise. Published by Poetica Press. Portland, OR.
2020. Strange Paradise. Published by Small Talk Collective. Portland, OR.
2018. We're Always Touching by Underground Wires. Published by Small Talk Collective in Portland, OR.
2011. Still: The Art of Living. Published by the Female Self-Portrait Artists Support Group.
2009. In Her Own Image. Published by the Female Self-Portrait Artists Support Group.
SELECTED EXPERIENCE & AWARDS
2019. “LGBTQ Photography Resource Guide” for the Society for Photographic Education, LGBTQ Caucus.
2018. Co-Curator, AINT-BAD Print Issue No.13.
2017 – 2020. Co-Chair for the National LGBTQ Caucus. Society for Photographic Education.
2017. Project Grant Recipient. Regional Arts and Culture Council.
2015 – Present. Founding member of Small Talk Collective. Portland, OR.
2015. Visual Artist in Residence. San Miguel Writers Conference.
2015. Critical Mass Finalist. Photolucida.
2012 – 2013. Editor. 5x5 Feminist Photography Magazine.
2010 – 2011. Membership & Sponsorship Coordinator. Newspace Center for Photography.
2010. COLOR Magazine. Single Image Competition Bronze Award.
TEACHING, LECTURING & WORKSHOPS.
2022. Pacific Northwest Drawers: Artist Talk. Blue Sky Gallery. Portland, OR.
2021. Mount Hood Community College. Portland, OR.
2019. Chasing Mania: Invisibly Queer, Femme, and Bipolar. SPE Northwest. Anchorage, AL.
2018. “Portfolio: Concept & Development.” Society for Photographic Education, National Conference, LGBTQ Caucus.
2012 – 2018. Graduate Professor & Thesis Review Panel Member. Academy of Art University. San Francisco, CA.
2017. Lecture. “Small Talk Collective: A Collective Perspective, Photography Council’s Brown Bag Lunch Series.” Portland Art Museum.
2017. Guest Lecturer. Newspace Center for Photography. Portland, OR.
2016. Digital Photography. Clark Community College. Vancouver, WA.
2014 – 2015. Workshop Facilitator. “Pathways to the Inner Story.” Nine Mountain, MA.
2014. Guest Lecturer. “Gender, Sexuality, and the Photographic Image.” Oregon State University. Corvallis, OR.
EDUCATION.
2011. MFA in Photography. Academy of Art University. San Francisco, CA.
2005. BFA in Photography. Pacific Northwest College of Art. Portland, OR.