PORTRAITS
There is probably no landscape as unique and secluded as a face. A whole lifetime could be spent watching others. The so-called portrait photography can be a violent and flattering practice, depending on lived experience of the two people interacting. The first abuse is committed on myself: after half of a lifetime, I still haven’t got used to casually stealing my preys’ “soul”, even if they are more than consenting.
My father, who was a very fond amateurish photographer, was way too discreet to do portraits, even if they were the photographic art form that he liked the most. He managed to pass me down the love for something he never practiced.
In this album of transversal portraits there is a selection from the project WHO ARE YOU. In the looks of the people captured for this project, I’ve recognized the exact emotional temperature that created Russian icons art. These icons had the purpose to take the viewer into a parallel metaphysic dimension through the expression of painted saints. I don’t know much about afterlives, but if I had been an icon painter, I would have chosen the subjects I photographed, since each of them seems to come from invisible worlds.
