Tara Sellios is a multidisciplinary Boston-based artist working mainly in large format photography and also in drawing, sculpture and installation.

The visceral, highly detailed imagery in her work is intensely planned and process oriented. Using an 8” x 10” view camera, she shoots arrangements that result in dramatic, painterly still-life photographs wrought with sensuality, lightness and darkness, and religious symbolism.

What do you think of when you think of the word “flesh”?

The concept of “flesh” has been a predominant focus in my work for quite some time now as an artist. I was raised in a strict born again Christian environment, where the Bible was constantly read ever since I was very young, complete with talks of hell as punishment. Flesh is constantly brought up in terms of the body, sensuality, and earthly desires, usually in a negative light, or in a way that describes it as fleeting and transitory. It is often addressed that the body (flesh) and soul are in a constant battle for morality, for example, in the writing “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”. We are constantly under the temptation to succumb to sensual pleasure at the expense of our soul. I think about this concept a lot in terms of my work, as well as the idea that many things that feel good or appeal to the senses are seen as a “sin”, and how that concept is integrated in life day to day. 

What do you find thrilling?

This is a question that I think I would answer differently at different points in my life, depending on current circumstances and my way of life at the moment. Right now, thrilling to me is being outside, finding peace and beauty in small things in the woods or at the ocean. The way light hits things in nature. I partly feel this way because my work has taken a more earthy turn to it, so for me, being in this space is kind of like research, or finding inspiration for my ideas. It is part of my process. I find simpler things thrilling these days.

To you, what does it mean to be consumed?

To be consumed is to become totally enveloped, overcome, entangled or trapped, by something - it can be physical, emotional or psychological. It can be seemingly positive or negative - love or fear, joy or guilt, for example. 

What is your favorite texture?

Late September golden sun on my skin when the sun starts to set.

What is one thing you think will never change?

Despite the rise in science, technology, and the seemingly robotic nature that humanity seems to be going towards, I think deep down, our inherent human instinct and connection to soul will always be there, even if it does not appear to be true at times. 

In your work, you often play with the contrast between light and dark, showing us white bones gleaming and spread against an apparent void. What does light mean to you? What about its absence?

Light and dark can have so many meanings. The psyche possesses both, and I feel that you can’t have one without the other. They coexist in a beautiful dance. The light makes the dark more ominous and deep while the dark increases the brilliance and gratitude for the light. The darkness begs for the light while the light stands out in the darkness.