Natacha Merritt (born 1977) is an American

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

, artist and biologist. Her 2000 book ''Digital Diaries'' was published by

Taschen Taschen is a luxury art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany. As of January 2017, Taschen is co-managed by Benedikt Taschen and his eldest daughter, Marlene Taschen. History The company began as Tasch ...

and was the first digital photography book ever published. She has been profiled in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''. Merritt has been called a cheap self-promoter, a ground-breaker, and the contemporary counterpart of

Anaïs Nin Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell ( ; ; February 21, 1903 – January 14, 1977) was a French-born American diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer of short stories and erotica. Born to Cuban parents in France, Nin was the d ...

. She cataloged her sexual history on the internet through explicit photographs and drew the attention of photographer

Eric Kroll Eric David Kroll (born October 23, 1946) is an American photojournalist, fetish photographer, erotica historian, and book editor. Work Eric Kroll's commercial work began in Taos, New Mexico in 1969, when he partnered with friend Sam Bruskin t ...

, leading to the release of her photos as ''Digital Diaries''. Merritt was a guest speaker at the Ars Electronica Festival in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

at the AGIdeas 2002 conference. In 2003 she was one of the creators of ''

Zumanity ''Zumanity'' (zoo-manity) was a resident cabaret-style show by Cirque du Soleil at the New York-New York Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, placed into the theatre previously occupied by Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance (musical). The pro ...

'' for

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; ) is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, Montreal, Saint-Michel, Montreal, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Jun ...

. In 2008 she sold the rights for an Insect Circus to Cirque du Soleil. The show became ''Ovo''. Merritt has been compared to

Cindy Sherman Cynthia Morris Sherman (born January 19, 1954) is an American artist whose work consists primarily of photographic self-portraits, depicting herself in many different contexts and as various imagined characters. Her breakthrough work is often co ...

and

Claude Cahun Claude Cahun (, born Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob; 25 October 1894 – 8 December 1954) was a French surrealist photographer, sculptor, and writer. Schwob adopted the pseudonym Claude Cahun in 1914. Cahun is best known as a writer and self-portra ...

in how she has broken photographic ground in self-portraiture by redefining the boundaries of artistic photography. Her work has been described as "a distinct female voice that takes candid self-revelation to new heights of wonderful indecency". In Merritt's 2012 book ''Sexual Selection'', she compares and contrasts the sexual intricacies of plants and insects with her own sexuality. She returned to higher education to study evolutionary biology, noting "The leap makes sense when you are passionate about sex. All roads lead to evolutionary biology, speciation and genetics." ''Sexual Selection'' has been called a work of art that "offer insight into universal sexuality and broaden the viewer’s sense of beauty and understanding of sexual behavior". Merritt has continued her directorial career as the creative director for a live erotic interactive event in Beverly Hills. The event was critically acclaimed. When asked by the ''Los Angeles Times'' what sort of talent she looked for in erotic performers, she said "My ideal performer was one woman who said 'I want to perform at Sanctum, become a politician and then get outed in a sex scandal so I can point out the hypocrisy,'" Merritt said. "I was like, 'You're hired.'" Merritt has been developing

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

content since late 2014

Books

* ''Sexual Selection'' 2012 with introduction b
Richard Prince
* ''Digital Diaries'' 2000

Projection designer

In 2003 Merritt was as a creator and

projection designer Video design or projection design is a creative field of stagecraft. It is concerned with the creation and integration of film, motion graphics and live camera feed into the fields of theatre, opera, dance, fashion shows, concerts and other live e ...

for Cirque du Soleil's erotic show ''

''.

External links

Natacha Merritt Official web site

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merritt, Natacha American erotic photographers 1977 births Living people San Francisco State University alumni 21st-century American photographers 21st-century American women photographers