Short Bio

Our 21st guest curator Martino Marangoni was born and lives in Florence. He studied photography at Pratt Institute and has continued his carrier as a photographic artist achieving international acclaim.

Since 1977 he has also been teaching photography. In 1991 he founded Studio Marangoni Foundation to promote the Art of Photography in Italy by organising exhibitions, courses, prizes and grants to support projects of emerging artists. It provides the community with a forum of exchanges of ideas unlike any other place in Italy. Students come from around the world and classes are taught in both Italian and English.

Curatorial Statement

'I enjoyed reviewing the DFA portfolios, found many wonderful projects which made picking ten not so easy.

Nevertheless I have made my selection, doing my best at balance my choice to include a wide range of approaches, techniques and objectives.

Discovering so much personal involvement in each project is refreshing, hopefully it is an indication that objectivity is no longer in vogue.

I am moved by the range of emotional involvement, spanning from humor, empathy, enchantment, mystery etc. I find a communality in the projects in this respect. The works have a good balance between conceptual complexity and aesthetic sophistication, though not overly conceptualised.

Some of the works belong to the documentary tradition and others are, in different degrees, created with a process of manipulation, though the distinction between these two are somewhat blurred. Photography’s ambiguous and deceptive nature opens a door to the author’s world of magic perception.

The issues and narratives of the authors provoke an emotional response, questions are raised and feelings shared rather than an impersonal undisputed definition of the material world.'

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