BY GAIA MUSACCHIO
1. Tell us about your approach to photography. How it all started? What are your memories of your first shots?
I guess that my first approach to photography was quite unusual, in the sense that it all started four years ago using a digital camera rather than on analog one. From that moment I started to move backward, which is very much an attempt to trace and reconnect myself with the fundamentals origin of photography, in other words going back to film photography to slow down, but also to think about what I am doing.
© Francesco Taurisano
I remember quite clearly the first few projects shot with a 35mm camera and black and white film, developed and printed in the darkroom, which represented a tremendous breakthrough to me. I gradually got interested and fascinated with the entire process. Later I become interested in medium format photography. In a sense It feels like everything started almost a year ago, when started to work on a long term project entirely exclusively shot with a medium format camera. This became a defining period for me and represented a breakthrough in terms of my practice.
2. How did your research evolve with respect to those early days?
Personally I think this is one of the most important aspect of my practice nowadays, in the sense that my projects are highly influenced by my research, whether those investigation are heading me towards the exploration of the environment where I will be shooting, but also in regards of other photographers work and critical readings which I personally found essential for the developing of my projects.
© Francesco Taurisano
Lately I was constantly looking at the work of Walker Evans and August Sander but also contemporary artist such as Paul Graham, William Eggleston, Guido Guidi and Martin Parr which I have found extremely useful to structure the narrative of my latest project.
3. Tell us about your educational path. You are attending a Bachelor degree in Fine Art at the Dublin Institute of Technology. What are best memories of your studies.What was the relationship with photography when you started?
I attended two photographic courses before I decided to get more serious about it and consequentially applying for a BA in photography at D.I.T, which has been so far an essential step to develop my photographic skills from a technical and theoretical point of view.
Yet I am particularly thankful to some of the people I met in this institution and lectures, which are particularly important for any student attending third level education courses. Definitely some of my best memories about photography are attached to my previous lectures that have helped me a lot along the way such as Martin Cregg, but also to some my good friends with who I share my passion for photography, particularly with Luca Truffarelli and Brian Cregan.
© Brian Cregan, The Glass Garden
These people have totally revolutionized my perspective on photography and helped me in the transition from digital to film, but most importantly to think critically about photography and encourage me to grow technically.
4. What were the courses that you are passionate about and which have remained meaningful for you?
I think this is very much related to your lecture and how passionate they are towards the subject they are teaching, addressing specific issues in contemporary practices that normally wouldn’t be considered. All the courses I have been in to were influential.
© Anthony Haughey, Postcards from Mosney
Recently photographic practice with Anthony Haughey and Ellen Thornton were my favorite, due the photo-documentary classes undertaken with them, which happened to be what I am really interested in. But again all classes on history of photography and visual studies were essential to me, it is because of them that I reconsidered the potential of building a personal archive and work with collage and photomontage, which consequentially lead me to be very passionate about academic texts written by Allan Sekula , Walter Benjamin, Craig Owens, Abigail Solomon-Godeau and Roland Barthes. Recently I also got interested in the work of Barbara Kruger, Sherrie Levine and John Stezaker and the phenomena of appropriation in postmodern context.
5. Any professor or teacher that has allowed you to better understand you work?
There are two important figures in this process, at first Martin Cregg who definitely helped me to find my path when I returned to Education. Nowadays I am highly influenced by Anthony Haughey in the sense that through tutorials he has helped me to negotiate some issues related to portraiture and landscape. Anthony also helped me to talk about my work, to contextualize it.
© Martin Cregg
6. You live in Dublin, tell us about your experience and how you got there.
I moved to Dublin few years ago and I honestly can’t recall the exact reason why I picked Ireland. My intention was to go traveling at the time and for some reason I decided to stop here in Dublin. Eventually that turned out to be a great idea because I went back to college. I don’t think my generation and the latest one have the same opportunity to move abroad that easily as the media are trying to convince us due the actual economic crisis that is actually impeding to the vast majority of people to do something different or just have the freedom to travel in search of new opportunity in other countries across Europe.
7. By looking at you bio I can see that you’ve been featured in many exhibitions. Did you also get the chance to publish something of your own work?
I haven’t managed to work on a self published photo book yet, even though I am intending to work on one in the near future. In fairness I prefer not to rush into anything, since this is a quite long process I prefer to take my time and work on the selection slowly. In the meantime I will try to participate in collective exhibitions and just keep working on my projects.
© Francesco Taurisano
8. You’ve also attended Enrico Bossan Masterclass. Tell us about this experience in general and how it affect your personal research.
The collaboration with Enrico Bossan and his team was simply phenomenal, I really appreciated the opportunity he gave me to show case my work on his platform. The entire experience was particularly enjoyable and I guess it kept me motivated to keep working on my project and see how it can be developed further in regard to personal research on the subject we are photographing.
9. About your work now. How would you described your personal research in general?
My personal research is quite simple and is fundamentally based on readings, looking and studying other photographers work. I love reading photographic online magazines such as Urbanautica. I also have a notebook with me at all time, so if have an idea I can simply write that down and then go back to it, just like when I am shooting I always keep a notebook in my camera bag because I think it is quite essential.
© Francesco Taurisano
Once I have some ideas about what I am looking for and who I might want to photograph, I just go out walking endlessly, exploring new places. This process becomes quite useful also when I need to get in touch with local people living in a certain area.
10. Do you have any preferences in terms of cameras and format?
It took me a while before I managed to decide what format would have suit my work best, and eventually I went for a manual medium format camera. Working with film in conjunction with this particular format helps to slow down the entire photographic process, which essentially is what I was looking for. Fundamentally I don’t like the idea of being in a rush all the time and working with this medium enabled me to reflect about what I am doing when I am photographing landscapes and establish some sort of relationship with my sitter if I am doing a portrait.
© Francesco Taurisano
I also very much enjoy working with film because I have almost have the control on the entire process from start to finish, especially when I use black and white emulsion, after all working into darkroom these days can be quite relaxing in a way.
11. Tell us about ‘Urbana Lignum’
In a sense ‘Urbana Lignum’ was the beginning of everything, and even these days I am still thinking about that project, and eventually I will get back to it at some point, but I want change the approach I had in regards of that project. I need to do more research about it and plan everything more carefully next time, and I might consider to use a different format as well, yet I think there might be a potential project there with ‘Urbana Lignum’.
© Francesco Taurisano
12. Is there any contemporary artist or photographer, even if young and emerging, that influenced you in some way?
There are plenty of photographers that have inspired my most recent project and my research is focused on them, on how a project could be approached and so on. My major influences at the moment in contemporary photography are Paul Graham, Martin Parr, Guido Guidi, Hin Chua, Bryan Schutmaat, Massimo Vitali, Ofer Wolberger but also modernist photographer such Edward Weston, Bernd and Hilla Becher, August Sander are definitely the ones that are influencing me the most at the moment.
© Ofer Wolberger, Training, Atlanta, GA, 2001
13. Three Books of photography that you recommend?
I would definitely recommend ‘A Shimmer of Possibility’ by Paul Graham which is one of my favorite books of all time. I personally think it is absolutely magnificent, certainly one of the best photographic books ever made and an object that everyone should have. There are other two books which I absolutely adore, which are ‘Tokyo Compression’ by Michael Wolf, and then ‘A New Map of Italy’ by Guido Guidi which is one the best books you can possibly buy.
© Michael Wolf
Those are the three books I always wanted to have in my collection/archive and I always suggest people to buy these books because they are beautiful objects to have, that you can always go back to, and flicking through images printed on a book is a total different feeling than watch them on a computer monitor.
14. Is there any show you’ve seen recently that you find inspiring?
I would say that Paul Graham show ‘A Shimmer of Possibility’ is definitely one of the best show you can see. I remember that all the prints were phenomenal and the lay out was simply incredible. It was that good that once he came to Dublin I went to his show at list twice a week, for the entire for the entire duration of the exhibition which lasted for three weeks if I remember well.
© Paul Graham Pittsburgh (Man cutting grass), 2004 from “a shimmer of possibility ”
15. Projects that are working in now and plans for the future?
I am working on a new series of images that are meant to be the extension of a long term project I started last summer, which I never had the time to scan or edit because I never had the time to do it. In the mean time since I have been traveling back and forward to Dublin, I have had the chance to keep photographing this project and gather more material and informations about it.
The project it self is quite simple, in the sense that the images I am working on at the moment are meant to create physical and tangible memories about the people and the land where I used to live. It is an attempt to create a sort of family album that will finally include my family and friends back in Italy but also the one I have here in Dublin, which is my other family constituted by close friends I have encountered over the past few years, since I moved to Ireland.
© Francesco Taurisano
The project examines how the life of the younger generation living abroad contrasts with the one that remaining in their native land. Also, it is a reflection of the economic crisis that has been affecting all countries across Europe with particular focus on Italy and Ireland. Despite these two factors, the project is a reflection of how the chances for younger generation to do something different are technically decreasing daily. In contrast to that movement there are a certain amount of people who have decided to remain on their native land, and it is quite incredible to see how these people are helping the entire community where they live into to preserve old cultural traditions that are at risk to fade away if people are continuing to move away to different places or countries. At the moment my plans for the future are to continue this project, my study and looking for something new to work on.