cameraless photography
Dressed in Flowers (2020-2021) Silver gelatin photograms 30 x 40 cm up to 70 x 108 cm
"Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves." - John Berger - Ways of Seeing
I began looking at women’s underwear from the male viewpoint, wondering particularly about lace and what makes it ’sexy’. Photograms let me see things in - literally - a different light, and in the darkroom I discovered a different dimension of these clothes: a delicate beauty made of intricate floral patterns and dreamy transparencies that has something intimate and liberating in it, more sensual, tactile and personal that the external gaze.
I began looking at women’s underwear from the male viewpoint, wondering particularly about lace and what makes it ’sexy’. Photograms let me see things in - literally - a different light, and in the darkroom I discovered a different dimension of these clothes: a delicate beauty made of intricate floral patterns and dreamy transparencies that has something intimate and liberating in it, more sensual, tactile and personal that the external gaze.
The best gifts in life can´t be wrapped (2020-2021) Silver gelatin photograms 24 x 30 cm / 30 x 40 cm
Skin Care (2017-2019) chemigrams
"How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young" - Oscar Wilde - 'The picture of Dorian Grey'
The series SKIN CARE stems from a critical reflection on the cosmetic industry and the proliferation of the selfie. These photographs, created by the traces of the body on photosensitive surface, act like the portrait of Dorian Grey: they show the imperfections that makeup and filters over selfies try to hide, skin that is alive and imperfect. An alternative representation of the body, which reclaims the self-portrait as a creative process and the tactile dimension of the photograph. Chemigrams are photographs made without a camera or a darkroom, using traditional black and white chemistry and photographic paper, contaminated in this case with a mixture of Aqua, Paraffinum Liquidum, Cera Microcristallina, Glycerin, Lanolin Alcohol(Eucerit®), Paraffin, Panthenol, Magnesium Sulfate, Decyl Oleate, Octyldodecanol, Aluminum Stearates, Citric Acid, Magnesium Stearate, Limonene, Geraniol, Hydroxycitronellal, Linalool, Citronellol, Benzyl Benzoate, Cinnamyl Alcohol and Parfum, also known as Nivea Creme. The creme applied on the skin leaves a trace on the photographic paper which alters the development process, with unpredictable consequences, like the long-term effects of the chemicals with which we poison our bodies and our environment.
The series SKIN CARE stems from a critical reflection on the cosmetic industry and the proliferation of the selfie. These photographs, created by the traces of the body on photosensitive surface, act like the portrait of Dorian Grey: they show the imperfections that makeup and filters over selfies try to hide, skin that is alive and imperfect. An alternative representation of the body, which reclaims the self-portrait as a creative process and the tactile dimension of the photograph. Chemigrams are photographs made without a camera or a darkroom, using traditional black and white chemistry and photographic paper, contaminated in this case with a mixture of Aqua, Paraffinum Liquidum, Cera Microcristallina, Glycerin, Lanolin Alcohol(Eucerit®), Paraffin, Panthenol, Magnesium Sulfate, Decyl Oleate, Octyldodecanol, Aluminum Stearates, Citric Acid, Magnesium Stearate, Limonene, Geraniol, Hydroxycitronellal, Linalool, Citronellol, Benzyl Benzoate, Cinnamyl Alcohol and Parfum, also known as Nivea Creme. The creme applied on the skin leaves a trace on the photographic paper which alters the development process, with unpredictable consequences, like the long-term effects of the chemicals with which we poison our bodies and our environment.
AFTER ATKINS: PETcorso Vita (2018-2019) Silver gelatin photograms 17.8 x 24 cm
Anna Atkins' “Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions” (1843) is considered the first ever book illustrated with photographic images. Atkins applied the photogram technique to botanical illustration: working without a camera or a negative, she placed algae and plants directly onto sensitized paper and exposed them to light, to produce captivating compositions which merged art and science.
The project "AFTER ATKINS: PETcorso Vita" takes inspiration from such pioneering works to explore contemporary relations to the natural world and to the photographic medium. The series features wild flowers, weeds and other plant matter collected in my local woods (along the fitness trail known as "Percorso Vita" from which the series gets its name), as well as plastic beverage bottles gathered in the same places. The plastic shadows over the botanical shapes, sometimes barely visible, force the viewer to actively engage with the simultaneous layers of reality hidden in the landscape, and invite a broader reflection on our current relationship with our planet. These photograms are created by hand in the darkroom, using the early 20th century gelatin silver process. Each print is unique and unrepeatable, reclaiming the materiality of the photograph in the digital age, and questioning the need for a camera within the definition of photography.
The project "AFTER ATKINS: PETcorso Vita" takes inspiration from such pioneering works to explore contemporary relations to the natural world and to the photographic medium. The series features wild flowers, weeds and other plant matter collected in my local woods (along the fitness trail known as "Percorso Vita" from which the series gets its name), as well as plastic beverage bottles gathered in the same places. The plastic shadows over the botanical shapes, sometimes barely visible, force the viewer to actively engage with the simultaneous layers of reality hidden in the landscape, and invite a broader reflection on our current relationship with our planet. These photograms are created by hand in the darkroom, using the early 20th century gelatin silver process. Each print is unique and unrepeatable, reclaiming the materiality of the photograph in the digital age, and questioning the need for a camera within the definition of photography.
Chemipoulp (2017) chemigrams 30,5x 40,6 cm
"…. It has no bones, it has no blood, it has no flesh. It is flabby. There is nothing in it. It is a skin. One can turn its eight tentacles wrong side out, like the fingers of a glove... This is the monster which mariners call the poulp, which science calls the cephalopod, and which legend calls the kraken." - Victor Hugo - ‘The Toilers of the Sea’
Inspired by Gyotaku, the ancient Japanese art of rubbing fish to create prints, I bought frozen octopus from my local supermarkets in Switzerland and used household pollutants and homemade chemistry to print these 'contact chemigrams' on black and white photographic paper. The strangeness of the resulting images and the unpredictability of the colours echo the weirdness of finding these magnificent creatures wrapped in plastic in a freezer hundreds of miles away from the sea, and the uncontrollable effects that our actions might have on the oceans and beyond.
Inspired by Gyotaku, the ancient Japanese art of rubbing fish to create prints, I bought frozen octopus from my local supermarkets in Switzerland and used household pollutants and homemade chemistry to print these 'contact chemigrams' on black and white photographic paper. The strangeness of the resulting images and the unpredictability of the colours echo the weirdness of finding these magnificent creatures wrapped in plastic in a freezer hundreds of miles away from the sea, and the uncontrollable effects that our actions might have on the oceans and beyond.
