Creator’s Notebook: Violetta Markelou

Premieres Friday, July 30 at 8pm ET

For photographer and DJ Violetta Markelou, the artistic realms of sight and sound have always been intertwined. Navigating her multi-medium journey, Markelou details her creative process, including her early influences in music, dance, fashion, and photography, and shares how the bonds she develops with her clients and audiences have helped shape her career. All culminates with both a showcase of personally curated photography at the vibrant Common Thread shop and a dance-driven performance on the sun-soaked rooftop of Union Market.

This video is part of Creator’s Notebook, a series of four short films that profile singer-songwriter Justin Trawick, visual artist Khalid Thompson, musician and storyteller Be Steadwell, and photographer and DJ Violetta Markelou in multi-faceted origin stories spanning their motivations as artists and inspirations for their work, defining what it means to bring original art into the world. Each film in the week-long dive deep into the creative process culminates in a performance or presentation of the work in intimate settings across D.C.

About the Artist

Photo by Yassine El Mansouri

Violetta Markelou creates one-of-a-kind visual experiences for individual, editorials, and corporate clients. Not only a photographer but a stylist and visual director, her portraits are created with a strong fashion emphasis which was cultivated many years prior and influenced by photography masters Herb Ritts and Richard Avedon. Violetta’s current body work focuses on raw portraiture and photojournalism. To experience a photoshoot with Violetta is a transformative experience. She notes that the most rewarding part of the process is that her subjects become disarmed. Feeling safe and empowered, abandoning vulnerabilities, and capturing the true essence of each individual is the experience Violetta strives to create.

Her work has been published in the Washington Post, VOGUE ITALIA “PhotoVogue”, D.C. Modern Luxury, Washington Life Magazine, Washingtonian Magazine, Fox News, Voice of America, and a national campaign for Planned Parenthood. Violetta’s work has been featured in multiple solo and group exhibitions in Washington, D.C. Selected as one of eight “Superfierce” D.C.-based artists, Violetta’s work was included at The National Museum of Women in the Arts annual auction exhibition. For more information, please visit violettamarkelou.com and beatsandbeautifulmusic.com.

About the Businesses

Common Thread celebrates what connects us through our ability to provide for each other individually and collectively. Common Thread is a community action project by Swatchroom designed to offer an accessible retail experience with a focus on giving new life to gently used clothing, footwear, and accessories. Support others by donating gently worn coats and winter clothing to Common Thread’s charitable drive—all clothing donations benefit N Street Village, Women Giving Back, and Central Union Mission. For more information, please visit swatchroom.com/commonthread.

Located in Northeast D.C., Union Market is a place where businesses launch and scale. EDENS sees a bright future for the Union Market district defined by people, passion, and possibility: an urban village born from the diversity of the dreams and energy of the nation’s capital; an authentic market of culture and commerce; and a true gathering place that serves as an inviting melting pot of old world heritage and new world opportunities. From its roots as Centre Market, a fresh food venue born over 200 years ago, it’s been a great unifier for D.C.—connecting people from a variety of backgrounds. Union Market will prove to be that creative spark again. An authentic district that expands beyond its culinary origins to include music, retail, hotel, and residential uses, and an organic source for economic growth, Union Market is a vision that has to be realized. It will be D.C.’s discovery destination—a pioneering place where vision not only matters but materializes into a thriving, relevant, and culturally rich district of sights, sounds, and tastes. For more information, please visit unionmarketdc.com.

Creator’s Notebook is made possible through the generous support of Gary and Silvia Yacoubian and SVS Home Audio.

Mars Arts D.C. is a partnership of Mars, Incorporated and Washington Performing Arts, with support from Jacqueline Badger Mars.

Thank you to the following lead supporters of Washington Performing Arts’s mission-driven work in 2020/21: Jacqueline Badger Mars and Mars, Incorporated; D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities; Betsy and Robert Feinberg; Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather; the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs Program and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts; Tom Gallagher; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; and the Dallas Morse Coors Foundation for the Performing Arts.