In my work, I combine body movement with photography as my preferential language. I utilize the process of double-exposure and mingle performance with static backgrounds that merge subjects with textures coming from urban and natural environments such as ocean water, sand, wood, flowers, asphalt and cobblestones.  In my photographs, I look for nostalgia and ambiance, playing upon the desire of place rather than presenting its actuality.

 

 

My imagination was originally inspired by a childhood in Italy surrounded by beauty and diversity. After relocating to New York City, I began exploring the aesthetic layers of the photograph as a metaphor for the diversified lifestyles that populate this urban city center. In 2006, I portrayed feelings of “fusion and separateness” in a series titled Self-Portraits. I became aware I was using the language of my body coming from my training in modern dance and improvisation to express myself in front of the camera.  Later, I expanded this process with a new photo series, Bodies in Space, in which I started to collaborate with dancers.

 

 

My photographs are born of the integration and spontaneous interaction of two main components: the emotional space of the dancer and the physical space in which they are immersed. In each series of Bodies in Space, I collaborate with a performer on a different theme: a feeling of oppression in Arturo (2011); a resistance to change in Sabine (2011); an exploration of lightness in Giorgia (2011); a sentiment of vanishing in New Orleans (2012-13);  obsessive movements in Maximilian (2013) and a surrender to the sensual provocation of nature in Collin (2013).In my latest project TERRA MADRE (2017-on), I’ve been exploring the delicate passage of becoming a mother. Here, I looked at pregnancy as a symbolic time where fixed perceptions are blurred, duality can cohabit, physical reality and imagination live harmoniously together.  

 

 

The results of this creative process are never completely predictable. This unexpected aspect always surprises me and challenges me to improve the uncommon fusion between human beings and the world around us through photography.