Silvia Alessi

Since you often use print as a medium for the execution of your work, may I ask you which type you prefer?

Of the ones I’ve tried, I loved the fine art color print on torchon paper, even though it’s extremely delicate. It gives the image an incredible three-dimensionality.

However, I have always been satisfied with the prints I have made, even the print on Baryta.

What comes first, the idea or the fascination with the material? In other words, does the artistic project come first, or is it inspired by the techniques and particular processes that have struck you?

The idea comes first, which is a pure image in my mind. I often draw these images in a notebook to capture them. I don’t consider myself a photographer, but I use the camera to make visible what my mind envisions. I’m often inspired by photography in films.

Do you have any Masters you look up to and feel close to?

Diane Arbus, for her choice to address controversial themes and portray otherwise invisible people. Bruce Gilden, for his search for subjects that weren’t beautiful according to the established canons. I greatly admire Stanley Kubrick as a director, for the symbolic power of his images.

Observing and studying colors, composition, and the choice of travel as an integral part of your photographic projects, the two strongest and most spontaneous connections, in my opinion, are the shots and environments of director Kiarostami and the photographs of Alex Webb.

It’s almost natural to associate your work with film narration, given its strong documentary connotation, of course, but also because of this push towards the narrative dimension that isn’t afraid to retain even long silences.

I also find that your colors and those of Alex Webb have a common substratum, being so saturated and vivid, almost reminiscent of the reflection of an image in an oil slick.

Unlike the American photographer, your shots, however, combine great attention to aesthetics with the sweetest and most human of qualities: empathy.

Could you tell us more about this particular aspect of your work?

The subjects I portray are for me an opportunity to reflect on freedom and diversity. Personally, I find it extraordinary to immortalize them, so vastly different in appearance and background.

More than once, I’ve been asked whether my story, which uses staged poses, is less powerful than spontaneous reportage. But in reality, thinking about the poses first allows me to study the social issues underlying the situations I portray ahead of time, allows me to get to know people better and establish a deeper connection with them, and ultimately allows me to make my story, which would otherwise be more casual, more powerful and more symbolic. In fact, I can no longer work any other way.