photograms
The best gifts in life can´t be wrapped
2020-2021 Silver gelatin photograms 24 x 30 cm / 30 x 40 cm
De niña a mujer
2020 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.
"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.
Granny's mandalas
2020 Silver gelatin photograms 24 x 30 cm / 30 x 40 cm
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.
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.
