Bedroom Diaries
Evelyn Salvarinas
Writing: Randi Bergman
@randibergman
Photography: Renata Kaveh
@renatakaveh
While those who experienced Disney’s golden era circa the late ’80s and early ’90s have likely fantasized about living la vida Ariel/Simba/Jasmine at one point in their lives, Evelyn Salvarinas feels her fantasy full time. And that’s not just because she has the luscious flaxen locks worthy of a Disney princess.
When we visited Salvarinas’s childhood home in Unionville, Ontario, she was about to embark on her latest voyage to Disney Land, where she and her husband, Sam, spend a few weeks each year in between visits to trendy contemporary art galleries. “I love the spirit of invention with a touch of magic that is the essence of everything Disney,” she says.
The 31-year-old aura reader is wild for Disney, but she’s equally wild for anything from art to The Rocky Horror Picture Show to Backstreet Boy AJ McLean. “As a kid I just loved all things really intensely and I guess always will,” she says.
When AJ went to rehab, I bought a cowboy hat at Le Chateau and wore it every day to honour him.
The best example of the reaches of her obsessions would be her childhood bedroom, pictured here in its most recent iteration: a chic Parisian escape featuring crown mouldings, thrifted Wedgwood china and ornate wooden furniture from her grandparents’ house. Previously, it was floor-to-ceiling cheetah print, from the walls to lamps, curtains, sheets and bathroom accessories. Before that, it was covered in magazine cut-outs from BOP, People and posters that came with her Baby-Sitters Club book subscription. “Decorating my room has always been such a huge thing for me,” she says.
Upon our arrival, we are greeted by her cutie mother, Mary, who’d just baked fresh scones and freshened up her daughter’s extensive collection of memorabilia. “Can you tell I’m an only child?” Salvarinas asks as we rush up the stairs. The collection included an endless supply of stuffed characters (her favourites are Pluto and a dolphin that was gifted to her when she had an ear infection at Disney World) as well as countless Baby-Sitter’s Club (“I used to read Little Sister books before bed thinking I was such a Karen.”) and a pristinely maintained Y2K countdown clock. “I was a little disappointed when nothing happened,” she says of that iconically limp moment when the clock struck midnight on January 1, 2000.
Today, Salvarinas applies her obsessive nature to photographing auras as Rose Aura. She proudly shoots on a custom AuraCam6000 that she sought out from its illusive maker, Guy Coggins, before he sold the business a few years back. “I was a really weird kid, but multifaceted. I was always really curious and analytical, but I was by myself a lot and very comfortable with that,” she says. “I love showing people their own energies and explaining it to them to help them better understand themselves.”
