Maria Minnelli has always had a wild imagination. The Ohio native is certain that two popular cultural mores were not instilled in her as a child. The first failure on her parent’s behalf: It is rude to stare. The second: Do not tell stories that are untrue. Had she absorbed these somewhat customary American societal standards, Minnelli would not be both a writer and a photographer, and is, therefore, thankful for her parent’s non-traditional parenting methods.

Her photographic narratives are whimsical and uncanny. Produced between imagined narratives and lived situations, Minnelli’s images flirt between nonsensical humor and the invasive experience of the everyday. By simultaneously attracting and disquieting the viewer, the images present a choreographed palpability of anxiety and the absurd.

Minnelli received her BA from Denison University in Photography and English Literature in 2005. In 2014 she completed her MFA in Photography at Savannah College of Art and Design. Minnelli currently lives and works in Columbus, Ohio.