Cheryl Maeder

Desert Purple Haze

2012

Cheryl Maeder was born in Elmwood Park, New Jersey, and in her early 20s moved to Zurich, Switzerland, where she studied photography at the Zurich University of the Arts. After eight years in Switzerland, Maeder returned to the United States and opened her successful photography studio in San Francisco, where she photographed international advertising and fashion campaigns. Maeder transitioned from photographing fashion models to photographing real women. She wanted to celebrate the beauty of women in all shapes and sizes. Her photography work became the inspiration for the global Dove Campaign on Real Women, Real Beauty which transformed the way women are perceived in the media. In 2005, she relocated her studio to the Miami area and deeply immersed herself into fine art photography and filmmaking. Maeder’s explorations with her camera uncovered her passion for Abstractionism and Impressionism in both her photography and her video installations. “Each of Maeder’s images elegantly transforms into paintings. Through her work, we are introduced to an avant-garde method of painting through photographs,” said Sebastian Perez, NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale.