"Confine", by Vittoria Gerardi

In Confine, Italian photographer Vittoria Gerardi presents her perception of the landscape, a visual and mental experience through Death Valley.

Located in the eastern Californian desert, Death Valley is the lowest, driest and hottest area in North America. 139 miles long, the valley varies from massive mountain formations to expanses of ground covered with salt, revealing a martial scenery where no human being deserves to live. The dazzling light, therefore the incapability of seeing is portrayed by the photographer by selecting portions of the negative, distilling fragments of the landscape and making them become symbolic lines between inconsistency and matter, almost as scars of light and time.

By using an alternative process in the darkroom, the photographer emphasizes the elements that make the landscape violent and extreme. The synergy of chemicals and the sensitive nature of paper give shape to peculiar tonalities. A balancing act between chance and control creating unique and irreproducible photographic prints. 

Vittoria Gerardi states: « Confine, or Horizon, is the intangible line that makes man reveal his limit and the illusion of going beyond it ». And Thierry Bigaignon adds : « Vittoria is merely 21 years old and already proves to be very mature through the mastery of the darkroom techniques, the stunning composition of her images and her ability to reveal concrete emotions through her abstract creations. Vittoria has a great futur. I’m thus particularly proud to be the first one to exhibit her works in a solo show ».