Maria Luneva is a 23 year old artist from Moscow who’s imagery showcase flowers and merge them with a futuristic style and photography.

Greatest inspirations or influences Maria?

My great inspirer and engine of my creativity is nature. I did not choose her as a creative tool, she herself is the primary source and basis of all my works, I only notice her uniqueness and give her new meanings in order to ultimately emphasize her self. this creativity did not appear by itself, I would call myself a follower of Katya Molchanova @thundergirl_xtal.

Tell us about your creative process?

In my daily life, I often come across nature, I notice it. This connection and understanding have been preserved since childhood in the countryside. At the age between 7-12, everything could be made into an adventure. And frequent cycling trips with my mother was one of those. We always took shovels with us to dig interesting plants on the way and then plant them in our flower bed. I loved to ride along unfamiliar paths and felt like a treasure hunter where only flowers were the treasure.

Recently, I realized that this left a strong imprint: I was riding a bike and noticed that my eyes were scurrying on both sides of the road in search of interesting plants, just like in childhood. Sense about now I'm looking for them for creativity. But the emotion of treasure hunters and adventure remained.

If we talk about the very moment of creativity, then this is always some kind of research. I find an interesting flower, leaf, mushroom, etc., and start playing with it in association, looking for a new place for it where it will become something new. Most often, this place is on my body, on my face. Vegetable becomes animal. For example, the petal becomes an extension of the tongue or a growth on the ear. And when this petal becomes something else, it seems to me that it makes it possible to see and be surprised at its originality in isolation from meanings and cliches. Most of all, I love when the plant has a "comfortable" shape, that is, it fits my body like a puzzle and does not need to be glued. For example, bells that are simply put on the fingers, sprouts that can be put on the ear.

How did the pandemic affect your creativity?

My creativity was born during a pandemic, when I started to study at the university remotely, a lot of time and energy were freed up. The detrimental effects of quarantine bypassed me. I don't know much and I often stay at home, so little has changed for me. It is difficult for me to celebrate the changes in the world, since a lot of things began to change for me personally, I started self-realization already at the time of the pandemic.

What does wellbeing mean for you?

Well-being for me - in a global sense, it is doing what I love in the present and anticipating the future. With well-being for every day, I experience difficulties, I can create all day forgetting about food, but I can eat all day and do nothing!

Anything else you’d like to share?

I am trying to understand what else can fascinate me as an artist. At the moment, I am comfortable creating my own photo work, sharing ideas and observations. But the desire to grow pushes me to expand my creativity, and I try myself in larger projects.

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