Beyond the Bloom: Portraits of Unconventional Beauty
Monica A. Walker Vadillo
17th of November -13th December 2025
Open View: 20th of November, 7 pm
This exhibition marks the culmination of a three-year journey—my first real step into studio portraiture beyond the solitary terrain of self-portraiture and street photography. Beyond the Bloom is both a personal exploration and a tribute to the individuals who stood before my lens and trusted me with a fragment of their story.
The seed for this project was planted after encountering the ethereal floral portraits of photographer Sayaka Maruyama—delicate, dreamlike images of young, beautiful women surrounded by flowers. But I kept asking: What happens when the face is older? Or different? Or simply doesn’t fit the expected mould? Around that same time, I had written about the 16th century artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo for National Geographic: Historia, marvelling at how he composed entire identities from plants, fruit, and objects—an early artistic reminder that the surface is never just surface.
I began to wonder: What do we conceal behind our cultural blooms-behind ageism, impossible beauty standards, sexual orientation, ethnicity, trauma, transformation? This series became my attempt to look beyond. Each portrait is a quiet search for the soul behind the mask, behind the petals—sometimes brittle, sometimes artificial, sometimes defiant.
The flowers I used—dry, plastic, or textile—act as barriers, as veils, as metaphors. They frame, obscure, or challenge the gaze. Yet through this muted palette and soft light, what emerges is something unexpectedly luminous. Not technical perfection, but presence. A moment of vulnerability. A trace of self.
This is not a perfect body of work. It was never meant to be. This exhibition is not about mastery—it is about connection. Each of these sitters offered me their time, their gaze, and something of their spirit. This work is for them. It exists because of them. And I hope you will take a moment to truly see them.
To every person who stepped into that studio, thank you—for your kindness, your friendship, your light. This exhibition is for you.
Come and meet them.
I’m a London-based photographer, and I’ve been taking photographs since I was 13 years old. Over the years, photography has become my constant companion—a way to connect with others, make sense of the world, and explore identity, memory, and emotion.
My work spans self-portraiture, street photography, and collaborative studio portraiture, often using muted tones, symbolic props, and quiet light to bring out the subtleties of character and presence.
Beyond the Bloom: Portraits of Unconventional Beauty is my fourth solo exhibition, following Dancer in the Street (2021), Resilient Portraits 2020 (2022), and 2020 Pandemic: Visions of London After People (2023). I also self-publish small zines of my projects, and my photos have appeared in museum guides, exhibitions, and the media.
Alongside my personal work, I run the Urban Portrait Pod at The Camera Club and lead a Street Photography for Wellbeing workshop for Team London Bridge. I also co-curated The Art of Seeing: 140 Years of Photography at the Camera Club with Gabe Simon earlier this year, and have curated the members’ exhibitions at the club for the past two years.
Instagram: @MonicaAnnWalker
Website: MAWalker Photography
