Fluster Magazine

Cristiana Gasparotto is an Italian photographer with a degree in English Literature and History from the University of Padua. Her work is highly self-referential, drawing intensely on her own emotions and personal experiences; it been exhibited in Europe as well as Miami and New York and been published in numerous magazines, including Vogue Italia online. She currently lives in Madrid, Spain.

Interviewed by Rodolfo Barradas

 

Hi Cristiana! What led you to become a photographer?

One day, pretty excited with the camera in my hands, I realized that through photography I would be able to express my own world in a conceptual and visual way. At that very moment, I felt dizzy.

Your series Florile brings together different female body parts with different flowers and the name itself is a contraction of the Italian fiori (flowers) and femminile (female). What is it that you want to express with this series of photographs?

In this series, it was my intention to pay homage to female grace and fragility. I chose to focus on details to express our most delicate and vital features. The elegance of the flowers and the intimacy of the nudes aim to represent the emotional universe I’m part of.

Self-portraits are a characteristic of your work. Why this choice?

In my creative process, the self-portrait is a very intimate and powerful tool. I employ it to deeply connect with my own feeling and share them with the public.

How would you describe your aesthetics?

I find it hard to encapsulate my work in a clearly defined line of aesthetics. I create in the only way I feel I can. I suppose it could be considered conceptual and emotional.

Projects like Insomnia and Caprices of fear seem to me marked by a certain anxiety, a feeling that I think very characteristic of modern society. Is there an element of social commentary to your work?

Not especially. My projects are strongly self-referential. On the other hand, my experiences are fully integrated into the social community I belong to, and they might convey a sense of commonly felt discomfort and concern.

Do you have a particularly favorite photo or project? What’s the story behind it?

I think my favorite project is ‘Insomnia’, for two main reasons: it was a quite suffered autobiographical project and, from my point of view, it represents the beginning of my artistic production.

You currently live in Madrid. What took you to Spain?

I needed fresh air and new challenges. Actually, the point was not about coming to Spain, but leaving Italy and abandoning my comfort zone.

What are your photography influences?

I like very different photographers, such as Man Ray, Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Lori Vrba and Irene Cruz. Just now, I’m discovering some amazing Asian artists, mostly from Japan.

And your influences beyond photography?

Literature and music are the main sources of my inspiration. Recently, I’ve felt a stronger interest in film, too.

What’s always on your photography bag when you go out?

I take my camera with a prime lens or two and a paper block (to jot down I’m old school).

What are you working on currently? And what are the plans for future projects?

Just now I am working on a series about losing and searching my way in a very personal ground; I investigate an emotional territory, with nature’s patient help. In the upcoming months, I’d like to reminisce about my past and work on a series recalling my childhood memories.

 

(Images © Cristiana Gasparotto)

______________________

  Rodolfo Barradas lives in Leeds, UK where he studies History & Italian. He’s interested in  languages, words and everything remotely cultural. Occasionally he tweets about all the  above @RodolfoBarradas