Trina Merry’s ‘Sweet Land of Liberty’

Based in Manhattan, fine art painter and photographer Trina Merry paints her models’ bodies, creating hyper realistic illusion so they blend into their surroundings. For her projects, Merry halts people, traffic, and even the police to create live painting performances on the street, documenting them with photography. The artist has expanded her camouflage series internationally, creating projects at the UNESCO Seven Wonders of the World. For her series titled ‘Sweet Land of Liberty’ she placed her painted models in front of famous settings in and around Washington D.C. To cover her models in full body camouflage, Merry brushes on a water-based body paint and uses an airbrush afterwards. The viewer’s eye is tricked by not seeing the differences between bodies and their surroundings. Merry wants to create the illusion by showing that the environment contains human emotions and memories.

All images © Trina Merry