"Home is people." Get to know Marina Nery

We’ve only just seen Marina of Select Model London recently but it looks like we can’t get enough of her! This time we hear from her in these quick-fire questions which are accompanied by a lovely set of portrait images all shot on film and unedited.

Photography and Interview by Ola Ajani

Tell us your full name and where you come from?

My name is Marina Nery, and I’m from Salvador, Brazil.

What do you miss the most when you’re not at home?

Home is people, I have a couple of homes, that’s what happens when your job is to travel so I’m always missing something or someone, but from my hometown I miss my family, my cats, the ocean, fresh coconut water, the food, the sunsets, I miss the orange sun light we have there, and I miss driving around the city feeling in peace.

The last couple of years have been crazy as we all know… tell us how you managed, what kept you going/motivated and what did you find most challenging?

I was lucky enough to be at a place I felt home and safe, I was with people I love, and I tried to allow myself to feel whatever came, I read and cooked, worked out and drank wine, watched Netflix, and spent countless hours on the couch with my roommate, and when I needed to lose my shit and scream, I did so too.

How would you best friends describe you in 4 words?

So that’s Ingrid’s job, I just asked her, and she said: intensity, culture, trust, force.

If you could spend 1hr with anyone in history, who will it be and why?

Acutilene, she was an African tribe queen that was trafficked as a slave to Brazil, managed to escape and founded Palmares, a resistance community that lasted for over 100 years and was home to more than 20 thousand people. She’s royalty, that’s what royalty means, to have all benefits stripped away from you and still thrive for the community.

“Culture is what makes humans unique.”

What does culture mean to you?

Culture is what makes humans unique.

What does fashion mean to you?

Fashion is a form of expression, such as everything we choose it can help us to show who we are and what we believe in.

What’s your favourite item of clothing?

Jewellery, accessories for me have an emotional meaning, and that’s why I learned silversmithing?

As a model, what has been your proudest moment?

Every time I get asked to co-create at shoots, I do love to give life to other’s vision, but having my opinion heard in part of the creative process makes me proud as a professional.

What advice will you give to an aspiring model?

Modelling is a career full of possibilities, but it is a job, you must understand the business, learn about fashion, and take interest in creating, while learning what it is to be a responsible adult and understanding who you are as a woman and human in the society, so yes is overwhelming but you got it!

“Home is people, I have a couple of homes, that’s what happens when your job is to travel…”

Summer or Winter? Summer

Coffee or Tea? Coffee

Spirits or Brews? Spirits

Cats or Dogs? Cats

What’s your tune of the moment?

Biking, Frank Ocean.

Favourite film you’ve seen in the past year?

Judas and the Black Messiah

What are you watching on Netflix now?

Parasyte The Maxim

What was the last message you received on WhatsApp?

“Vamoss” it means let’s go, is from my friends back in Salvador group chat, they are going to the beach tomorrow.

Any type of home in any place in the world; what type of home will it be, where will it be and why?

A summer house in Salvador, big house, lots of windows by the beach, no AC, just beds to have my friends visit and a tree in the front for shade. And a winter home in NY, brick walls, wood floors, lots of Persian carpets and the slouchiest couch you can possibly imagine, window’s viewing the city because the place is in Brooklyn.

As the year draws to a close. how are you hoping to spend the last months of 2021?

I’m hoping I get to travel more, work again, feel a sense of normality that was missing this past year. I hope to be around the people I love too.

Finally let’s close this interview with your favourite quote.

We are born, we love and we die.