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Photographer Alissa Christine's Love Affair With the Magic City

Alissa Christine pulled up for our interview on a bicycle complete with basket. How very Miami and fitting for the photographer behind i love miami 365. The project sounds simple enough: take one picture of Miami every day of 2008. How hard can it be? A topless model here, a cresting wave there. But the work, like this city, goes much deeper. As the artist says, “Most of the pictures have a message, a reason, an intention why they’re shot. There’s an experience behind them.” And it can be felt scrolling through the photos. From a pin up girl at a Biscayne carwash to a picture of Miami band Suénalo performing, each shot is like taking a voyeuristic peek into a Miami experience.

Christine, a Brazilian American, wasn’t raised in Miami; she landed here in 1996. But she’s made the beach her home. “I’ve finally chosen Miami as my place to live,” she explains. “I lived in New York. I love it, but there were things … Coming here, I loved it and nothing made me leave. I finally said, ‘That’s it, I’m here. I’ve chosen it.’” In a city where people inform their friends that they’ve moved away with a Facebook update, someone who can really say they’ve chosen Miami — for good — is rare. And it’s this love of Miami she wants to express through her work.

The idea for the project came about the way most good ideas do: procrastination. Christine had an exhibition to do in New York in August 2007. With the show six weeks away, then five, she still didn’t have an idea. But she knew, “I wanted to bring something new to New York. Bring a piece of Miami back.” And that’s just what she did. She took one picture of Miami a day and that was the exhibit. The show was so well-received, she decided to tackle the project for a year. And so began i love miami 365, a project that garners some skepticism. “People always ask me, when I tell them the story of i love miami 365, ‘Do you really love it?’ Yeah. I really, really enjoy Miami. I love the warmth here, in all senses of the word,” she says.

So what does she take pictures of? The same scantily clad beauties found in most photos shot here. Well, sure, there’s some of that. It is, after all, Miami. But in Christine’s words, she shoots “people, places, things, verbs, experiences. Basically, Miami is my canvas and pictures are taken every day.” Every day. No cheating. Meaning Christine has had to be creative. She can snap a shot at 4 a.m. and then not snap the next until 11 p.m. the following day. But no, there are no weekend-long getaways, not even in the heat of summer, which is when Christine threw a party to mark the halfway point. At Butter Gallery in Coconut Grove, people gathered to see the first six months of shots. Of the event, Christine says, “I have chills thinking about it. There were so many people there that were in the project and everyone met each other. ‘Oh, you’re in that picture.’ ‘Oh, I was there for that picture.’ It created a little community.”

Adding to the personal feel are Christine’s notes. With each shot, along with a date, time and title, is a handwritten note, a comment on the experience. The memos range from enigmatic and insidery to explanative and droll (“Don’t forget to wear your sunscreen!” accompanies a picture taken at the nude beach). Christine describes the notes, which give the photos an accessible vive, as “a daily thought that goes with every picture.” Between the titles, the handwritten notes, choosing a single shot each day (sometimes from hundreds), and the photo editing, creating the final picture is a workload — one not easily managed while still having to find a perfect shot each day. One would think Christine would be tempted to stay near her apartment in South Beach, but the project extends from Hialeah and Homestead to Coconut Grove and Little Havana, barely missing a neighborhood in between. “I’m always trying to figure out the best way to get variety,” she says.

Christine’s affection for Miami’s variety is evident in her pictures — and highly contagious. One meeting with her and one begins to wonder why they have never gone ultralight flying (it’s like riding a motorcycle in the sky) or watched the polo matches on South Beach. That’s not to say the endeavor hasn’t been exhausting. Asked if she’ll be relieved when it’s all over, she responds with a resounding, “Yeah, man.” And her plans: “I want to stay home. Go to the beach, come back home, go to the beach, come back home.” How very Miami.

See the project at www.ilovemiami365.com

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