GAIA *in the mirror

I've always been fond of mirrors. They have powers: they can create a new world - reversing left and right - a new space, even a non-place where who's in front of the mirror is not at. Mirrors can show a place that seems real but actually isn't. 

They can create a parallel reality, silent and suspended, where everyone can look at themselves, recognize or refuse to recognize themselves. 

Gaia, looking at herself through a mirror, making friends with another herself.

THANKS

A few days ago the “Spazzatura kilometrica in cortocircuito” (Short-circuited endless garbage dumps) exhibition was officially inaugurated. That was before Easter, the Colomba cakes and the food and wine marathon I did run in Padova. No wonder I wrote about the event more than ten days after it was actually held! You can find below one of the articles that have been published in the local papers in the last few days.

The list of the things that contributed to make my exhibition inauguration day a special one is actually endless. I want to thank all the people who supported, advised, helped and encouraged me when I was organizing this project...all the mums, dads and kids...the Associazione On for planning the event and giving me a chance to teach the Cuasso Junior High School students the basics of photography. I'd like to thank the Ghiggini Art Gallery for being helpful and making us feel welcome and Philip Abussi for his priceless comments. I want to thank all the sponsors and all those people who actually came and see the exhibition (and those who would have liked to come but couldn't make it).

I want to thank Francesco for taking this picture, the best one among many. In the eyes of my dad, pierced by so many tears, I could get a glimpse of my mum's sweet smile. That's probably going to be the main reason why I'll always remember this day. 

Goodbye Cambodia

Every time, at the beginning of a new year, besides wondering what the new year has in store for me, I also like to take stock of the one that has just ended. 

A few months went by on the sly, and I can't remember much of them. Others are still very fresh in my memory, as if they had happened just a few moments ago. I took pictures of them both with my mind and with my camera, and when I try to recall them all the emotions, smells and colors come back to me. 

Of all the months of the year 2013 the one that tops my personal list is August, when I went on vacation. I was in Cambodia, backpacking, traveling on beaten and unbeaten tracks: following my instinct I explored and discovered new places and new cultures. Cambodia gave me a lot: I learned new ways of life and met people that I will never forget. I could write pages after pages about that trip but it would be difficult for me to tell you what I felt with words. I am a photographer, not a writer, images is what I like to use to express myself. 

I will share with you some of the pictures I took (lots of smiles) and the few lines I wrote on my journal as I was saying goodbye to this wonderful part of the world from the airplane that was taking me back to Bangkok. 

Goodbye Cambodia,

There are lots of things of you that I will miss.

The dignity of people who managed to survive civil wars, invasions, bombings, visionary dictatorships and the worst atrocities that a human being can suffer or even remotely imagine. 

The generosity of people who have little towards those who have even less than them. 

I will miss your colors, your scents and your bad smells. The taste of your food. The magnificence of your Khmer temples. The echo of the mantras in the Buddhist monasteries. The slow brown water of the Mekong. The crowded buses, carrying any sort of things, the water buffalos, rice fields, air con that knocks you down. I will miss your humid and sticky heat, your afternoon showers, your muddy roads and street stalls selling insects, snakes and fried tarantulas (come to think of it, I might not really miss that much). I will miss walking among people who keep saying tuk-tuk. 

The list of things that I will miss is long…but what I will miss the most is your people's genuine smiles. Smiles made with mouths, faces and eyes. Those deep black eyes of the children that make you want to hug them when they look at you. 

Goodbye Cambodia, I'm leaving a part of me here.

Of all the photos I've got I chose to publish the ones I took of these kids. I spent a whole day with them. Rain was pouring down, they let me take shelter in their house and flooded me with smiles and happiness (and maybe that's why tears are running down my cheeks while I remember them).

BRUMS SS13 CAMPAIGN... BEHIND THE SCENES!

Every shot has its own story behind. I mean a special story. I’m convinced that those stories that have children as their main characters turn out to be the most memorable, and in the last few years I’ve collected a lot. To the point that one day I’ll throw my camera away (I’m not gonna tell you where), I’ll become an author and I’ll write a book about all that.

This might well be the very first story of that book. It tells about how the majority of boys (up to ten years of age) are literally disgusted by girls the same age…and Gerri is one of those boys.

Everything and everybody was ready for the new Brums ad campaign photo. A very important one I would say. The idea was to have each kid lying on another one’s back.

Initially I thought that the most difficult part would be to make sure that the little baby didn’t wake up. Nothing of the sort: the hardest thing is always something you were not expecting at all. Convincing Gerri to get close to a girl – as per the planned layout – was no easy feat. There seemed to be nothing to do: he was perfectly fine with being taken pictures of but not with any type of contact with girls. Girls are revolting, that was the message (which is perfectly fine for a 4-year-old boy…I’d like to ask him what he thinks about that in, let’s say, ten years time…).

Finally the negotiations we worked on in order to change his mind bore fruit (of course they involved a significant number of toys: smart boy!).

At the very last moment though he still tried a desperate move and asked whether it was possible to interpose the little baby between the girl and himself. His request was obviously rejected. And this is the photo.

MY INTERVIEW!

(versione italiana qui!)

Some time back my friends at Total Photoshop interviewed me. It took me a while before I made up my mind and published it here. The reason is that I wanted to think it over before uploading a video of my big face on the web.

Now I'm ready though.

And how about you? Are you ready to hear me talking for fifteen minutes? Be careful, it can easily make you fall asleep. 

In the video I'm talking about myself, of what I do and of course about the children, who give me the chance to have such a wonderful job. Thanks!

Le cinèma!

(italian version here!)

Have I ever told you about my passion for cinema?

I would go to the movies every night if I could, and I'd always sit in the front row (yeah, I like the front row, as I don't mind going home with a stiff neck in order to have nothing and nobody in between the screen and myself).

Unfortunately I live in Zurich and as I am not familiar with the local language I don't go to the cinema very often. Actually I don't do it at all. 

However, in the past few months I have found out that I can rent pretty much any movie I like through iTunes. 

I've recently watched The fox and the child, whose photography, in my opinion, is very beautiful. At the beginning of the story - in some scenes - light kind of invades the picture in a way that thrilles me. 

As I was watching it I did rewind some scenes over and over again. Until Luca had enough and took control of my laptop (I think that at a certain point he was so frustrated that he was about to punch me in the head). Watching a movie with me must be a real pleasure. 

Anyway, during my Christmas break (spent almost entirely in Padova) I enjoyed a movie (and Venetian soppressa) feast, as I went to the cinema almost every night.

I've seen every film I was interested in and I recommend them all!

Life of Pi (it's great in 3D) / Una famiglia perfetta / De rouille et d'os / Argo / The best offer / Skyfall (even though this is not my favorite genre I have to admit I really liked it.)

I also watched some animation movies:

-Hotel Transylvania

-The 5 legends

(by the way I noticed that when Luca and I go to see an animation movie we are always the only adults in the whole theater who are not actually accompanied by a kid. Sometimes we don't feel totally at ease and we try to hug a random child, pretending he's come to the cinema with us.)

Let's move on.

I did like a lot the movies I just talked about, even though the genres are so different. 

The one I liked the most is probably Moonrise kingdom by Wes Anderson.

I think it's poetry expressed through images. Have a look at the photo I posted below. 

PERSONAL PROJECT #work in progress

(italian version here!)
In an old post I mentioned a personal research based project that I was working on (and that I haven't finished yet). Here is a short preview of it. 

Its focus is on children and, most important, on the environment. An abused and unhappy environment.

The environment needs to be respected and protected, just like a little child. 

The environment is our life, our home, our shelter.

Their future.

I'd like to thank all the kids who took part in this project. I also want to thank their mothers for their great helpfulness.

This project isn't