Parallel Lines: Francesca Malgara
Zanele Muholi, "Bester V, Mayotte", 2015
Written by Federica Belli
Francesca Malgara, one of the most renowned Italian Art Advisors, is member of the MIA Photo Fair Advisory Board.
Federica Belli The language of photography is among the most contemporary languages of our time, due to its versatility and its immediate impact on the viewer. What makes photography such a relevant language in our time?
Francesca Malgara The centrality of communication in contemporary society is a fact for all to see: visibility is substance, essence, form and content. Communication is everywhere and it is a kind of 'extra colour' in the world's palette. I think that the printed paper is suitable for in-depth analysis, reflection, while for wide-ranging communication the web counts. I imagine photography as an extension of writing: a visual writing. It is not enough to produce a certain number of photographs or videos. In order to give value to the image, everything that is produced must be connected by a thread, a theme, just like the plot of a novel or an essay! Throughout history reality has been told through images. As Susan Sontag says: “our age prefers the photograph to the real thing, the appearance before experience”. Photography is a form of authority to express our contemporary society. While objectivity is an intrinsic property of photography, a picture is always the outcome of a given point of view. This is also part of the reason why photography can be compared to a contemporary planetary language made of a subjective narrative that can be understood by all.
F.B. Your path in the photography industry has evolved in a natural manner, as you gradually discovered your personal calling and became an art advisor. How have you seen the industry change along the years in terms of volumes and patterns?
F.M. Photography is my passion. For years, I have been involved in all the facets that an art form such as photography encompasses, including: relations with galleries, relations with collectors, relations with companies that sponsor cultural events, relations with public authorities and with all those who often make spaces available to us where the quality of what artists produce can be appreciated. I believe that through general and widespread work it is possible to further develop the important role that photography plays in our society and the public's awareness of its importance as a contemporary art form. The "Advisor" can therefore become a valid "wingman" for the collector, an aid for the collector in the work of finding and deepening information, but also a reference on which a collector can rely, thanks to the experience gained by those who are experts in the vast world of photography. Social change is replaced by a change of images, and so being able to exchange opinions and information that directs the collector to make timely choices in line with his or her tastes also becomes an artistic exchange between collector and advisor. A strong passion for collecting can easily turn into mere accumulation. Instead, collecting, at its best, is far from mere acquisition and can become one of the most humanistic occupations, seeking to illustrate, through the assemblage of meaningful relics, the march of the human spirit in its quest for beauty. Of course, part of the Advisor's profession - and thus also of my professional experience - is also to be able to discern and direct potential collectors/clients to the right venues. If a client's sole purpose is to buy a work for pure decorative taste, he or she will have to be directed to different venues than those who wish to pursue a steady path of knowledge and insight. Today, from my point of view, digital means aggregation and coexistence between those who are knowledgeable and do not possess certain tools and those who possess certain tools and are not “learned” if we want to invest in continuous innovation in Art as well. With digital, while some emotions have been 'lost', we can experience new and often unexpected ones. If photography has given ordinary people the chance to be remembered, it has also opened a window on more recent historical eras that allow us to better empathize with those who came before us. We must not, however, forget that our past is our future and that photography is perfectly capable of being a bridge to understanding, progress and artistic satisfaction in this respect as well.
F.B. Having spent many years abroad as a professional in the industry, which peculiarities have you noticed in Italy as opposed to other European countries in terms of openness and interest towards fine-art photography as a language and as an investment?
F.M. Collaboration is the word that Italy needs now more than ever. With Italy, too, there is a need for greater collaboration among whoever already has or plan to carve out a space for themselves in the field of photography and the visual arts. Milan has to become the natural centre of this network that should cover the entire Italian territory. Its central position with respect to Europe and also to a large part of Italy, its traditional propensity to be an ideal destination for organizing an exhibition event such as MIA Fair with branches that could extend elsewhere. The need to create synergies and not gaps is particularly important also to avoid duplication of efforts, cannibalization of events with, in the end, no one really benefiting either in terms of image or in terms of artistic/visitor/economic contribution. Good coordination and transparency of information guarantee the preservation of the independence of each entity and, at the same time, the optimization of resources and the elimination of unnecessary competition at local level.
William Klein, "Group of women in a public bathhouse", 1990
F.B. Having become one of the pillars of the MIA Photo Fair – the main photography fair in Italy – you have access to the workings of many galleries exhibiting there. What makes a gallery stand out from the others when selecting the participants to such an important event?
F.M. My passion for photography stems from the traditional masters of shooting, those of analogue black and white photography, so I prefer photos that are unprocessed. For me, photography is memory and documentation. Photography is also a form of nostalgia, an attempt to get in touch with a passing reality and to appropriate it. Photography turns a moment into an event, because an event is something worth photographing. This does not detract from the fact that there are contemporary artists who use photography as a means of expression and thus process by creating their own reality. I might go so far as to say something provocative, but true: 'When we are afraid, we shoot. But when we are nostalgic, we photograph'. Just think of 'photographic safaris', where conventional weapons have been replaced by a camera or film camera, the weapons of remembrance. Or, photography also means that we can see something before we experience it. A photograph is both a pseudo-presence and a sign of absence. Or, again, photographing people means violating them as they are never seen, having a knowledge of them that they can never have. Photography transforms people into objects that can be symbolically possessed. It therefore seems to me useless to privilege one or the other mode of photographic processing and manipulation: from the black and white of vintage photographs to the technological avant-garde, what seems to me basic is what an image evokes. That is why our approach at MIA when it comes to selecting a gallery or an artist is as open as possible: photography speaks all languages and I am interested in discovering new nuances, jargons and phrases.
F.B. In a society that has become so used to ubiquitous photography, which traits can still tell a photographic artist apart from the mass in the industry? Do you see it more in the visual language used or rather in the overall persona and message conveyed?
F.M. I look at the images I use as a filter for life. It is not so much the 'name' that is important as the quality, reliability and project that a photographer/artist pursues through their work, although a persona already tells you something about the expectations that one may have. Then, why not? As with all expressions of human creativity, it seems to me that it is also good to bet on the discovery of a little-known talent from which one can also derive a future economic benefit. Narration and subjective framing inevitably leave something out of the picture and give a certain meaning to the images: this is why photography is a very important contemporary art form, because the viewers, as with other art forms, always find a cue, a reason for interest and creativity when observing the work they decide to choose. But photography is always an interpretation of the world and this interpretation, both by the photographer and the viewer of the work, is always governed by conventions, ideology and the Zeitgeist.
