Personal Projects

I turn the photographic lens towards myself for the first time, in search of something which will break my procrastinations down.
I look within myself for all the things I cannot find outside but the question remains the same: “is anybody home?”.

I look closely but I cannot see myself, I take refuge in the surfaces I would like to change; I dig deep within the folds of my skin, within the distant glances.

The correct answers are nowhere to be found.

In the meantime, we live at a proper distance from each other, as a means of keeping the virus and the chaos it generates at bay.

We are all in this high-speed mixer together with our fear, pain, and confusion. We stand naked in our much-dreaded vulnerability.

Sometimes it is easier just to let go, simply accept the conditions of our impermanence. It is more natural to allow events to manifest themselves freely, to flow independently like water in a river.

Gallery

Photobook

Traces of life in lockdown

A Covid story

Global pandemic, everything is now a matter of discussion: proximity, relationships, love, caring, assistance, touch, smell, perceptions.

During the most dramatic days from the onset of Covid-2 I enquire about my inner world and listen to everything that comes from outside.

And I think…

"The double glazing insulates us from the living, screaming earth.
The patient woman waits whilst the unearthed roots are burning.
The grey sky falls softly upon the fragility of the sea.
I hear the bated breath.
I touch the ancient wood as it reveals the latent image of a transitory sign."

Gallery

Video

Searching for identity

Self Me

Photographic self-portraits printed and then treated with various material elements, then photographed once more.
The images are subjected to contact with water, air, sun, shadow, silence and music.
Like a patient soul in limbo, I wait for signs of transformation.
I follow their evolution closely and search for traces of metamorphosis.

An experiment on the perishable nature and surface of this material which we rely on to bestow our own image.
A transformative sequence which induces us to reflect upon the element of Time but also on the latent spirit of things. Natural events which reveal themselves with surprise and forcefulness despite the pixels, despite rational control.

Gallery

Photobook

Friendly masks

The right distance

“Wearing the mask with the cast of one's face is like meeting the duplicate of oneself. You can finally look at yourself from the outside in three dimensions and meet, observe, be amazed, fall in love or disgusted. While you cast your face you are already wearing a mask. By covering the face, the internalization is automatic. The senses turn inwards and the dialogue begins. The skin does not breathe, the eyes are closed. When the mask dries up and you take it off, the light returns, contact with the outside returns. But only when you have been intimate with yourself can you wear another mask, painted, and pretend, play, wear another being embodying its energies, otherwise you risk not realizing you have a mask and identifying yourself with a projection of the mind." Sarah

The right distance is an investigation at different levels on empathy, on the relationship between photographer and photographed subject and on the psychological meaning of the mask (real or invisible), and finally on the revelation of new aspects of oneself. The project, which began many years ago and then forgotten, came back strongly in a fragile moment of my life. As in a performance, I explore and cover with a paste made of clay, essential oils and water, every inch of the face of friends, until the material takes shape in a texture. I get very close to each of them, I invade their space, I ask several questions: from the perception of matter on the skin to what it means to wear a mask. A few minutes pass and, like a fingerprint, the mask reveals itself through stains and cracks, letting a new identity emerge. The variables that emerge when the clay begins to dry seem different for each person, as if they refer to traits of their personality or their inner world. I go back behind the lens and the dialogue changes, perhaps due to the fear of the camera. Before removing the clay, the comparison takes place in the mirror. The subjects observe themselves intrigued to discover another face.

Gallery

The air I breathe

Ortica blues

Patrolling the urban territory near home, eastern outskirts of Milan.
Observations on the ongoing changes within the area of “Ortica”; an industrial location of great importance which up until the 1970’s was still very productive.
At present all one can see are abandoned ruins, degradation and large looming dormitory buildings.
Nowadays amateur photographers wander through the area on Sundays in search of “picturesque” corners to capture and immortalize. In fact, Ortica is also the largest open air memory museum in the city.