Mari Saxon is a Russian-born conceptual photographer based in the United States since 2022. Rooted in academic art education and long-term architectural practice, she constructs her visual language through staged compositions. Her images are conceived scenographically, employing ironic allusions to classical painting, play, absurdity, and complex symbolism as key visual strategies.
Saxon engages with themes of motherhood, female subjectivity, and self-identification through performative self-portraits, staged narratives, and constructed characters.
Since the beginning of her practice as a lens-based artist in 2023, her work has been presented in more than 50 exhibitions, recognized with numerous awards, and is held in private collections in USA and Russia. In addition to her practice, she conducts workshops and artist talks.
Saxon engages with themes of motherhood, female subjectivity, and self-identification through performative self-portraits, staged narratives, and constructed characters.
Since the beginning of her practice as a lens-based artist in 2023, her work has been presented in more than 50 exhibitions, recognized with numerous awards, and is held in private collections in USA and Russia. In addition to her practice, she conducts workshops and artist talks.
Education
2025-2026 Book[e]lab Laboratory of book creating, online
2024-2025 Docdocdoc, Contemporary Photography Practice course, online
2024-2025 Natalya Zhukova, Fine Art photography course, online
2022-2024 Marusina Masterskaya, Fine Art photography course, online
2019-2021 Sergey Maximishin, Documentary photography course, Moscow Russia
1994-2000 Moscow State Architectural Academy MA Architecture, Moscow Russia
2024-2025 Docdocdoc, Contemporary Photography Practice course, online
2024-2025 Natalya Zhukova, Fine Art photography course, online
2022-2024 Marusina Masterskaya, Fine Art photography course, online
2019-2021 Sergey Maximishin, Documentary photography course, Moscow Russia
1994-2000 Moscow State Architectural Academy MA Architecture, Moscow Russia
Selected honors
2026
- Griffin Museum John Chervinsky Scholarship Finalist
- Capacity-Building Cohort A4A grant recipient in Worcester County
- ND Awards 3rd Place Winner in People Category (project)
- CPOY Award of Excellence in Interpretive Eye Category (project)
- CPOY Award of Excellence in Interpretive Eye Category (single)
- CPOY Award of Excellence in Illustration Category (project)
- Photolucida Critical Mass TOP 50 finalist (project)
- Juror’s Choice Award by juror Conor Moynihan (RISD museum) winner Exposure 2025 by PRC Photographic Resource Centre (project)
- IPA International Photography Award 1st Place winner (Self Portrait Category, project)
- A Global Open Call by PhotoVogue 'Women by Women' shortlisted (project)
- Color Awards 1st place winner (Portrait Category, single)
- Life Framer Series Award, shortlisted (project)
- XIII International Photo Festival - PHODAR Biennial winner (project)
- HIPA finalist (B&W Category, single)
- Photolucida Critical Mass TOP 200 finalist (project)
- Emerging photographer of the Hamburg Portfolio Review (project)
- Belfast Photo Festival shortlisted (project)
Artist Statement
I always adore noticing the absurdity, surrealism in the everyday, as if reality lifts the edge of its curtain for me, and through this gap, I see the backstage of the scenery. Recognizing the surreal edge in the everyday churn of events keeps me from sinking into melodrama over the losses and upheavals that my family, my homeland, and I are forced to endure.
For my projects, I often construct theatrical tableau vivant — absurd, surreal, sometimes unsettling, even disturbing. I prefer to speak with humor, irony, and lightness about painful experiences, trauma, and other difficult themes. I use absurd imagery and allusions to classical painting so that my narrative does not turn into mourning or lamentation, but instead becomes a means of overcoming trauma and easing pain.
For my projects, I often construct theatrical tableau vivant — absurd, surreal, sometimes unsettling, even disturbing. I prefer to speak with humor, irony, and lightness about painful experiences, trauma, and other difficult themes. I use absurd imagery and allusions to classical painting so that my narrative does not turn into mourning or lamentation, but instead becomes a means of overcoming trauma and easing pain.
Exhibitions
ON VIEW
- Jan 23 - Mar 8 - "Your Work Here" at PRC, The VanDernoot Gallery, Cambridge, MA
- Feb 2 - Mar 13 - "2025 Winners & Honorable Mentions", The Image Flow Gallery, San Anselmo, CA
- Feb 12 - Apr 27 - "First Look: A Second Glance", Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA
UPCOMING
- March 1 - 4 - The PhotoVogue Festival 2026, Palazzo Brera, Milan, IT
- March 12 - Apr 11 - "The Measure of Light: Juried Members Show", Copley Society of Art, Boston, MA
- March 18 - May 3 - "Kindred: A Members' Exhibition", ArtsWorcester Gallery, Worcester, MA
- Apr 2 - May 2 - "Critical Mass 2025 Top 50" at Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR
PAST
SOLO AND UP TO 4 ARTISTS SHOWS
2026
- The solo show "Ethereal" at Space Place Gallery, Nizhniy Tagil, Russia
2025
- "Stories in Transition" (Dmitry Gomberg, Anna Kreslavskaya, Fima Furman, and Mari Saxon) at Wedeman Gallery, Newton, MA
- The solo show at Shrewsbury Public Library, Shrewsbury, MA
- "Artists Shoeboxes" (Mari Saxon, Melody Fortier, and Karin Cloutier and Morgan Tartakoff) at ArtsWorcester Gallery, Worcester, MA
2024
- "A Magic of Three" (Alexandra Rozenman, Mari Saxon, Pauline Lim) at Hopkinton Arts Center, Hopkinton, MA in 2024
JURIED AND CURATED GROUP SHOWS
2026
- "Trying To Tell You How I Feel" at Gallery 263, Cambridge, MA
2025
- "Critical Mass 2025 Top 50" at Duncan Miller Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
- "Gathering Place: A Family Album" by Griffin Museum of Photography, online
- "Trieste Photo Days" at Porto Vecchio, Trieste, Italy
- "Resonance of self" at LoosenArt, Millepiani Gallery, Rome, Italy
- "Impressions: What Is Left Behind" at the Mary Cosgrove Dolphin Gallery, Worcester, MA
- "Exposure 2025" by PRC at VanDernoot Gallery, Cambridge, MA
- IV All-Russian photo festival "Painting with light" at Turgenev Library, Moscow, Russia
- "Vision(ary)" by Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA
- "31st Annual Juried Members Exhibition" at Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA
- "Unfiltered Femininity" at the Mary Cosgrove Dolphin Gallery, Worcester, MA
- "Women Tales" at Centre for photography Mart, Yekaterinburg, Russia
- "Spring Show" at The Curated Fridge, Somerville, MA
- "13th edition of Phodar" winners exhibition at The Palace National Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
- "Focus on Fashion" international exhibition during Cracow Fashion Week, Cracow, Poland
- "Fusion" at ArtsWorcester Gallery, Worcester, MA
2024
- "Contacts and Connections" at LoosenArt, online
- "Art as storytelling" at Midwest Nice Art, online
- "Broken Forms" at LoosenArt, Millepiani Gallery, Rome, Italy
- "11th edition of Trieste Photo Days" at International Festival of Photography, Trieste, Italy
- "30th Annual Members Exhibition" at Griffin Museum, Winchester, MA
- "100 Photographers to Watch" at Superlative Gallery, Bali Indonesia
- "Cinematic Theme" at Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA
- "View Finder" at ArtsWorcester Gallery, Worcester, MA
- "Portrait: Self and Others" at PhotoPlace Gallery, Middlebury, VT
- "Dreams And Nightmares" at Boomer Gallery, London, UK
2023
- "Fotostrelka" Festival of B&W Photography, Borovsk, Russia
- "FAM's 87th Regional Exhibition" at Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA
Publications
2025
- Boston Globe ‘Exposure 2025’
- Float Magazine 'More/Less'
- The Griffin Museum Zine 'Vision(ary) Vol.1' online
- The RAW Society 'Otherworldly Family Album' online
- Photobook ExhibitAround 'Mythography V'
- Âme d’art 'Goddess of the sea' online
- PHODAR Photo Biennale Photobook "Photographic Reality"
2024
- Fisheye Magazine 'L’Insta des lecteurices'
- Superpresent Magazine 'Winter 2025'
- Float Magazine 'Imperfect Poetry'
- HUG100 '100 Photographers to Watch 2024'
2020
