Fashion designer and photographer Diana Eusebio sees the world in color and uses a totally unique palette of all-natural dyes made from native plants to bring her creations to life. For example: avocado seeds produce pink, achiote makes orange, and Spanish moss yields yellow (the latter was a discovery Eusebio made while living in the Everglades for a month, working alongside hydrologists and park rangers as she tried various plant species to craft the perfect shade of yellow). “It’s like alchemy to me,” she says. “It’s a collaboration with nature.”
In her photography, Eusebio digitally manipulates her images to make what she calls “supernatural” hues, printing photographs onto textiles and then dying them in different colors. During a recent trip to the Dominican Republic, she photographed family members and used locally sourced achiote to dye her prints. “Once I figure out what kind of essence the person or the place has, then I assign them a color,” she explains.
Eusebio’s work has been featured in such magazines as Photo Vogue and Paper. As an artist in residence at Miami Beach’s Oolite Arts, she teaches students how to dye fabrics—ranging from old clothing to curtains—using plants and spices, giving renewed life to their textiles. Her work is currently on view in an exhibition entitled “Bounce” at Oolite Arts through January 21. Her pieces are also included in “Banned: An Interactive Lucy St. Project” at the Lowe Art Museum through February 24.
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