Parallel Lines: Arianna Rinaldo
© Jon Henry
Federica Belli The language of photography is still among the most contemporary ones, notwithstanding the diffusion of digital art and AR. Which factors make photography such a relevant medium in our time?
Arianna Rinaldo Photography, being also one of the oldest mechanical visual media, remains the one that feels most familiar to most of us. Photography is a direct language, a democratic one: it doesn’t have to be learnt in order to be read – of course we have to learn how to properly read photographs, but that comes as a second step. The issue with digital arts – virtual reality, augmented reality, etc. – is that a large part of the general public is not ready to understand those media, most of which are also based on photography (not lens-based, but still photography-based). Photography hits us closer and impacts us more directly, being in some ways the mother of all these other forms. Kids deserve a visual education which is still missing in Europe, particularly in southern countries. In the US there is a concept of visual literacy we do not even translate in the Italian and Spanish languages. And it is fundamental, especially in the age of AR, fake news, social media: we have to teach children how to decode and read the visual language. Photography is the base of it, and knowing its history prepares us for its future.
© Alessandra Sanguinetti / Magnum Photos
F.B. As Artistic Director of Cortona On The Move, an international photo-festival, the selection of each project also implies choosing which themes are to be exhibited. Which is a responsibility in terms of visual education for the audience. Among the issues that could be represented through the exhibited projects, which ones did you find particularly pressing to be confronted with this last edition?
A.R. An Artistic Director has the role of choosing what to bring at a Festival, just like a Curator is responsible of a show. Connecting to the previous question, Cortona on the Move is now defined as Festival of Visual Narrative rather than as a Photography Festival. And that is what we want to talk about: we want to focus on visual stories rather than on plain photography, including all the spin- offs of the photographic art.
Specifically, the choice of the themes to be discussed in a festival has two aspects to it. First of all, the general focus of the event. It usually comes about the year before, around the closure of the previous edition. It is fundamental to listen to the keywords around the world, those words we repeatedly hear throughout the year. A few years ago, during the #MeToo movement, I decided to bring mainly women photographers. Not stories on women, but professional women photographers. That was the focus. Two years ago we were at the height of the environmental discussions, which had been going on for a long time and suddenly came to the foreground. Thus I decided to work on the theme of landscape, including traces of history and humans it carries. There was a sense of our identity and migrations as well, declining the landscape in many ways. This past year it has been very natural to focus on human beings, so the theme became We are Humans. We all spent the last year in a complex situation, in which we had some time to think about ourselves, who we lived with, who we spent time with and who we wanted to spend time with. On the wave of that thought I felt it was important to put the accent on the essential gestures and needs of human beings. Most of the exhibitions this year deal with very simple rituals: waving, saying goodbye, putting children to bed and singing lullabies, growing, making friends... All those everyday, ordinary things we need to see as extraordinary.
Within that, of course, there are also pressing issues that need to be discussed. Thus, I added some exhibitions that talked about #BlackLivesMatter such as the outdoor exhibition by Jon Henry. Some works focused on gender identity in kids, on finding ourselves beyond the body and the genitals we are born with. An exhibition regards North-Korean defectors, a very specific perspective on migration. So within the idea of pinpointing the essence of being human, I never want to forget the issues we have to keep talking about.
© Gabo Caruso
F.B. Attending photography festivals is an invaluable opportunity to experience first-hand the passion and hard work behind the event. How can attending photo-festivals and being part of the photography community foster the personal growth and the visual maturity of a photographer?
A.R. It is fundamental for anybody who wants to grow in their practice to interact with colleagues and peers. This year it felt particularly urgent to meet again and talk about photography, to see what photographers are doing and to test how the same work, when shown in different venues, takes a completely different shape and influences the audience in unimagined ways. For photographers to participate in these events, not only to look at photography but mostly to sit with people, to attend portfolio reviews, book signings and presentations, is an opportunity for invaluable encounters. In the past years we have had so many online workshops and presentations – which is great, but... – and we lost that intimate aspect of learning from just being together and observing each other. As a Mentor and Teacher I always encourage photographers to attend these events and show their work. The world constantly changes, photography changes, the market changes. You always need to put yourself out there. There is always a learning space.
F.B. Definitely, particularly when you are professionally involved with the representation of a society, which is what photographers do in multiple ways. One can never stop evolving with her surroundings. In addition to your widely known roles, you are a mentor at PHMuseum as well. In such context, you often work with photographers trying to find their voice in such constant evolution. Which issues are most often faced by emerging photographers, and how can a mentor attempt to tackle them?
A.R. I love mentoring photographers and tackling with them about the main issues linked with the development of a project. I like to question them on their intentions. Why are they doing that? How important is it to them, and what should other people feel about it? What should the photographs provoke? Certainly it is important to start working with what is around us, there is no need to reach the other side of the world. What matters is to start out knowing the intention behind the project, an intention which is personal and intimate at first, but at a point must become universal. How do you translate the story of your neighbourhood, visually and conceptually, to touch a wider audience? Who do you want that audience to be and how can you touch it? Only that way can one develop a project with the apt format and language. Quite often, photographers tell me their projects aims to become a book and an exhibition. Classic. Alright, but do you know what it means to do a book? Do you know what it means not to sell your book? An exhibition? Ok, where then? How many people are going to see it? Not all projects need to be a book: they can be a magnificent web magazine, a wonderful installation with blueback paper in your town. It really depends on the target audience, so one has to go back to the intention, to the choice of audience. Those are the provocations that I address and the questions I intend to ask. It goes beyond the construction of a story and the sequencing of photographs.
© Aleksi Poutanen
F.B. A reflection on the why behind our actions is fundamental in times offering so many possibilities that it becomes very though to stand still and do nothing. We are constantly busy, on the move, but at times we all stop and remind ourselves the purpose behind it all, at times.
A.R. And the photography world is continuously changing. I don’t have the answers myself. I started working in Magnum Photos, then moved to magazines; and now I’m a photo editor. I had to adapt and evolve as well. It is challenging, but the point lies in trying to find the direction to go. Which is my current situation: I am not following Cortona on the Move anymore, so I have to find new doors.
F.B. Also, photography is a wide field. And tough the borders between photographic niches are finally becoming more and more blurred, there is still a felt need to define a photograph according to its language: documentary, fine-art or editorial, just to name a few. I wonder how you feel regarding these divisions and which niches are more exciting right now in terms of visual innovation.
A.R. I do not like to discuss niches or categories that much. We do need them to define and choose photographs, but the borders are in fact very blurred. They should not even exist anymore. What exists is the purpose of a photograph, which can be more informative in the case of documentary photography, it might explore delicate issues and amaze in the case of art photography. But you also have reportages that go in museums and galleries, and doesn’t that go beyond niches? We definitely need more flexibility in that sense: we want to speak to different audiences, and why can’t a reporter be in a museum? Why can’t artists work with magazines? Photographers should know about the different areas, but only to place themselves in the ones they can better work with, to mix them and transform one language into another. I would not want to specialise unless working with still life or concert photography, which need a very competent work. There is room for flexibility, as long as there is also awareness. And that is one of the first lessons I learned. I worked at Magnum in New York for four years; I had no photographic background, and I was simply amazed by the stories those photographers told and the language they used. But then I moved back to Italy and I worked at COLORS magazine. I was even more amazed at how one can tell similar stories with such a different language, touching a completely different audience. That is why I have always been very open to the evolution of the photographic language: two opposite languages can tell a story in an equally great manner, informing and provoking people, questioning our beliefs. If I had to leave a wish to photographers, it would be not to get stuck in a single visual language. Do not suffer if you do not have your style. It can adapt from story to story, evolve with the target audience. It is not incoherence. It is awareness of the message to be told and the audience to be touched.
Arianna Rinaldo just ended her 10th year as Artistic Director of Cortona On The Move and is currently working on the opening of another festival, PhEst, which is opening in Monopoli (Italy) on August 6th. She’s an Artistic Director, Curator and Freelance Photo- Editor, but also Teacher and Mentor for photographers.
