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@theobserver_meli

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Photographer 📍MIA
📸Passionate about Photography
📸Family Photographer
📸Events
📸Instructor
📸 @limerence_bymelissaguerrero
📸 @_melissa_guerrero_photo

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October.

It took you 10 months, 2026, but maybe, just maybe, October was the first month of the year when I actually felt better or actually felt a little more like myself.

You gave me memories that will last a lifetime. A little bit of everything, from fish to the underground, from meetings to teaching, from music to unexpected encounters. A month that somehow managed to bring it all together.

So here’s the recap.

It took you 10 months, 2026. And honestly, I think we can call it a year. The highlight has already passed.

#OctoberRecap #LifeInBetween #PhotographyAndLife #UnexpectedMoments #2026 by @theobserver_meli

My favorite room in the entire exhibition. Skin. Act III

If Act Three is an abstraction of the larger visual narrative, then Skin is where I allowed myself the greatest freedom to experiment. I think of this room as my laboratory, a necessary space for exploration, discovery, and sometimes failure.

I wanted to explore different photographic techniques, materials, textures, and ways of making images. I wanted to speak about skin, its imperfections, its vulnerabilities, and its memory. What does our skin remember? What does it carry? What happens when we stop trying to conceal its flaws?

I brought together nature, organic forms, chemical reactions, and different printing processes. Some of these images came from failed mordançage experiments. In certain cases, the chemistry was simply too strong, and the original image disappeared before I could save it. I tried. Some images survived in unexpected ways, almost appearing camera-less. Others never made it through the chemical process because I stopped it before it could completely take over. Sometimes I preferred what was already there.

There is a particular beauty in what remains after an image is damaged, altered, or partially destroyed. Perhaps what I thought was a failure became something else entirely. Perhaps I was disguising one intention to discover another.

Ultimately, Skin is about resistance. It is about challenging what I have been taught, breaking a few rules, and refusing to follow certain expectations of what a photograph should look like.

I understand that some of these images might feel out of context when seen individually. But together, they are necessary. They are an abstraction of the entire narrative, a visual language of their own.

Sometimes you have to let the process take you somewhere you didn’t plan to go.

#ConceptualPhotography #ExperimentalPhotography #FemaleGaze #PhotographicProcess #LimerenceReverie by @theobserver_meli

Two minutes to run through an exhibition that took almost a year to make, and that has given me more than I could have ever imagined.

A run-through, or maybe a dance-through, of Limerence Reverie, Variations on Grief.

The conversations, the connections, the moments of sitting together on the now very public white sofa at the end of the exhibition, talking for hours. Sharing stories, reading, questioning, and finding ourselves somewhere within the work.

That was the whole point. Not just to show photographs, but to create a space for connection, vulnerability, and conversations that could continue long after the visit ended.

Mission accomplished.

My breath has been taken away. Even I have struggled to grasp the magnitude of what happened, the love, the generosity, and the depth of the connections made along the way. I feel thrilled, honored, happy, lucky, and blessed that this happened the way it did.

The exhibition will continue to live on, but for how long, and in what form, I don’t know just yet. Perhaps it is coming to an end sometime in the near future, or perhaps it is simply transforming into something else.

There is no way of knowing. It is, after all, a living organism.

Thank you for being part of it. 🤍

#ConceptualPhotography #PhotographyNarrative #FemaleGaze #VisualMetaphor #LimerenceReverie by @theobserver_meli

A little more of Limerence Reverie, Variations on Grief.

This is a glimpse into Act II of the exhibition, where I share some of the work, read excerpts from my writing, and talk about the thoughts and processes behind the images.

I find great pleasure in explaining this project because sometimes, an image on its own can be complicated or misunderstood. But when we look, read, listen, and talk together, something else happens. We open up conversations, share experiences, and begin to connect through the work.

This project has been living in my mind for years, although I made most of the work within a year. It brings together photography, portraiture, still life, alternative processes, experimentation, and writing. But beyond all of that, it’s about connection. About being willing to listen to someone else’s story and share something of our own.

I’m not looking for a big stage. I’m interested in these encounters, the conversations that happen when we spend time with images and with each other. For me, that’s what matters most.

I know some of you couldn’t make it to the exhibition, and I’d love for you to experience it, even if it’s through these little virtual visits. I plan to share a couple more.

If you’d like to visit the exhibition in person, please DM me. I’m happy to arrange a time to walk you through the work, share some readings, and have a conversation together.

It’s not just a visit. It’s an exchange. And I’d love to hear your stories, too. 🤍 This process of grieving has been very feral and This virtual tour explains just that. Grief can be feral

#ConceptualPhotography #PhotographyNarrative #FemaleGaze #AlternativeProcesses #VisualMetaphor by @theobserver_meli

More of the Virtual Tour of Limerence Reverie: Variations on Grief. The beginning of Act II. You are more than welcome to visit.

I know this experience is ephemeral. The exhibition will eventually come to an end, the photographs will come down, and this particular chapter will become a memory.

But while it lasts, I want to enjoy every moment of it.

So, if you would like to visit, have a conversation, spend time with the work, or simply be curious, you are more than welcome.

Thank you to everyone who has already been part of this experience. I would do it all again, again and again.

With all my heart. ❤️

Because sometimes time leaves scars: How Do You Measure Time?

#LimerenceReverie #VariationsOnGrief #PhotographyAndConnection #TheFemaleGaze #ArtAsDialogue by @theobserver_meli

A little virtual tour of Limerence Reverie, sharing some of the techniques, processes, and concepts behind the work. But I’d still much rather have you here, experiencing it in person. ❤️

Funny enough, last night I dreamed nobody was listening to me explain the work. Life finds its balance, I guess.

#LimerenceReverie #ConceptualPhotography #ExperimentalPhotography #VisualStorytelling #FemaleGaze by @theobserver_meli

Last night, I had the weirdest dream. I was the leader of a group in which I had to give facts and tips on how to rebel against the world, or, I guess, society. In this place, everything I said was written down as an example of how I was rebelling, and it felt so good to say all the little things I did on a daily basis to rebel.

I had long, wavy, dark hair, lots of it. The hair I wish I had, I guess.

And it felt so good.

So this, I guess, is part of it.

I guess not everything has to be kept a mystery. From time to time, we have to be very raw and crude about our feelings and what we are trying to say.

I guess this is about what the project means, in a way. Rebelling.

Again, I don’t have to be mysterious all the time. There are occasions when you have to explain yourself, and this is an example of what it feels like to rebel against the world, to not live up to everyone’s expectations.

I love people. I love community, I’m just, I guess, tired and exhausted from having to live up to standards when I can’t. I fight for it, but I can’t.

So this is me surrendering to my reality and speaking all my truths. welcoming you to the beginning of my long term project and a small explanation of the process on three prints: Grief is Fluid, Erasure I, Trying to Stop, Limerence Reverie Act I
#limerence #limerencereverie #soloexhibition #artgallery #alternativeprocess by @theobserver_meli

One of the things I wanted most from this exhibition was the opportunity to bring people together.

To make room for conversations that don’t always happen in our everyday lives. To look at photographs slowly, to consider what a still image can hold, and to spend time with the stories, the materials, the techniques, and the thought processes behind them. To talk about grief, about what we carry, about what changes us, and about the different ways we try to make sense of our experiences.

I wanted people to come with open minds and open eyes, to ask questions, to share their interpretations, and to feel comfortable staying with an image even when it didn’t offer an immediate answer or felt uncomfortable.

And that is what made these days so meaningful to me. The conversations, the questions, the unexpected connections, the different perspectives, and the realization that something so personal can become a place where other people find their own points of recognition.

I believe we need spaces like these. Spaces where photography is not simply consumed, where art is not something we rush past, and where we can come together to think, listen, question, and learn from one another.

Culture is something we should be able to experience as a community. It gives us opportunities to encounter ideas outside ourselves, to see things differently, and to feel less alone in the things we cannot always explain.

That was the intention behind this exhibition. Not just to show the work I have spent the past year making, but to create an environment where the work could become a starting point for something shared.

Thank you to everyone who showed up with curiosity, generosity, and a willingness to engage. Thank you for listening to the stories and for bringing your own into the room.

I hope we left a little more inspired by one another than when we arrived.

And I hope we continue making room for these kinds of encounters.

#LimerenceReverie #VisualLiteracy #PhotographyNarrative #ArtAndCommunity #CollectiveReflection by @theobserver_meli

An exhibition is never just the work on the walls. There are all the things that happen behind the scenes, the ideas that have been sitting in your head for months, the details you imagine over and over, and the people who help you bring them into the world.

I am so grateful to everyone who contributed their time, talent, care, and ideas to making Limerence Reverie what it was.

The flowers deserve a moment of their own. I had dreamed of them for so long, knowing how important flowers are to this project, and seeing them finally come together, the way they were designed, arranged, and placed, was something very special to me. They were never just decoration. They belonged to the world of the work, and I cannot imagine the exhibition without them. @floraliamia @dianamabellob

The food, the thoughtful catering, and the alternative ways of presenting it brought another layer to the experience. @alternative.board everything was beyond, from the mocktails to the dates! And the Saturday coffee service, from the matcha to the macchiato to the espresso, was exquisite. @aromaespressomia I hope everyone felt cared for, found something they enjoyed, and had a chance to pause and settle into the space. I wanted you to feel like home.

Every element mattered to me. Not because everything had to be perfect, but because I wanted the experience to feel considered, generous, and connected to the work itself.

There is something beautiful about watching ideas that have lived in your imagination for so long become tangible, especially when other people help you make them real.

To everyone who helped, prepared, arranged, carried, served, created, and cared, thank you. You were part of this exhibition in ways that cannot be separated from the photographs or the experience of being there.

I am so grateful that I got to share this with you.

#LimerenceReverie #ExhibitionMaking #PhotographyAndArt #ArtAndCommunity #BehindTheScenes by @theobserver_meli

Now that the exhibition has sort of passed, I find myself feeling a little nostalgic. After so many months of working toward these days, imagining how everything would come together, and wondering how the work would be received, I am left with so much happiness and gratitude.

I was ecstatic to see how many people came, how much time they spent with the work, and how willing they were to look, listen, ask questions, and engage with what they were seeing. It meant so much to see people resonate with the photographs, to hear their thoughts, and to have the opportunity to explain the story, the techniques, the decisions, the doubts, the whys, and even the why nots behind the images.

This project has been part of my life for long, and sharing it has meant making room for other people to enter something so personal. I hope everyone who visited felt welcomed, seen, and included in the experience. I hope I was able to honor your visit, give you a hug, sit with you, answer your questions, and share a little of what I have been working on over the past year.

Thank you for making the time in your hectic lives to be there. I know showing up takes effort, and I don’t take a single visit for granted. Whether you stayed for a long conversation or had only a little time to spend with the work, I am grateful that you chose to be part of this moment.

We celebrated a milestone for my family and I, and I couldn’t have asked for a more meaningful way to share it.

My heart is full. Thank you! BTW you can still visit just DM me.

Thank you for being there, for looking closely, and for being part of the immersive experience of Limerence Reverie.
Thank you @wbenshi69 for the amazing pics (the ones that are not iphone)
Thank you Mrs Maisel for your mircrophone

#LimerenceReverie #ConceptualPhotography #PhotographyNarrative #FemaleGaze #ArtAndCommunity by @theobserver_meli

Limerence Reverie: Variations on Grief this is the final call.

After months of my life revolving around this project, I am finally opening the doors and sharing it with you.

I am nervous. I am anxious. I am terrified, honestly. There is nothing easy about exposing something that has lived so close to the heart for so long.

But there is also something beautiful about being able to share the work with the people I love, with friends, family, and with people I may have never met before. I am deeply honored by that.

This exhibition was built mostly by myself, but never entirely alone. Beloved people have given me their time, feedback, criticism, ideas, helped me edit, helped me make decisions, helped me put things on walls, and simply sat with me while I tried to figure out what this needed to become. Every person who contributed something from the goodness of their heart has left a mark on this work, and I am grateful from the bottom of my heart.

So, come with an open mind.

Come curious.

Come ready to look, but also to talk.

This is not a traditional gallery space, and I don’t think this is a traditional exhibition. It is an intimate space, a different kind of experience, and an opportunity to enter a body of work that has been deeply personal to me and connect.

I hope you enjoy it. I hope something speaks to you. I hope we can have difficult conversations, beautiful conversations, unexpected conversations. I hope you bring your own experiences with you.

Limerence Reverie, Variations on Grief

October 9, 7–10 PM
October 10, 12–4 PM
October 11, 12–4 PM
Coral Gables, Florida 33134

This is me letting go of the work, and finally letting it exist outside of me.
I hope you come.

1.Cover: Blueprint
2.Where It all Began, An inflatable Pool Used To Lay Here and Left a Dead Space
3.Lace
4.If you Leave, Which You Did
5.The Housewife Reve
6.Bones Still Life: Possum
7.Self Portrait
8.Sconce Art Deco
9.Gallery
10.Madonna
11.My Childhood
12.Lace II
13.Open Up II
14.Untouched Nature
15.Accordion II
16.Blueprint

Canon 5D, Hasselblad 500c, Linhof

#LimerenceReverie #VariationsOnGrief #ConceptualPhotography #FemaleGaze #PhotographyNarrative by @theobserver_meli

Limerence Reverie: Variations on Grief
There is a fragility in showing work like this that is not for the faint of heart.

I have spent months living inside this project, making decisions, destroying images, rebuilding them, writing, editing, questioning, doubting, changing my mind, and then changing it again. I have had to decide how much of myself I am willing to expose.

Maybe I should have developed thicker skin by now. But I also think that everything I have endured, everything that has left me only half-functional at times, has brought me to the realization that perhaps I should share it anyway.

Why not?

Some people may connect deeply. Some may try to understand. Some may not understand at all. And that is okay.

We all live differently. We carry things differently. We grieve differently. We love differently. We survive differently.

This work is not meant to prescribe a way of living or grieving. It is simply one person’s attempt to make sense of it, to give form to what could not always be expressed with words, and to let some of that pain leave the body through the images.

And if, somewhere along the way, the work creates a conversation, a recognition, a moment of connection between strangers, then perhaps the vulnerability was worth it.

That is what I am hoping for.

Not answers. Connection.

1.Cover: Blueprint
2.An Inflatable Pool Used to Lay There
3.The Housewife Reve
4.Still Life Canva: Shells and Flowers
5.I Am You
6.Delicacy
7.Picked Apart
8.Gallery
9.Anti Gravity
10.One Hundred Years Old II
11.Open It Up
12.On My Knees
13.Medallion
14.1700 II
15.Blueprint

Canon 5D, Hasselblad 500c, Linhof

#LimerenceReverie #ConceptualPhotography #FemaleGaze #PhotographyNarrative #VisualMetaphor by @theobserver_meli