Francesca Romana Guarnaschelli – Promessa Terra

Mostra personale

Comunicato stampa

Spin and Laboratorio Fotografico Corsetti are pleased to present Francesca Romana Guarnaschelli’s project ‘Promessa Terra’ as part of the annual ‘FOTOGRAFIA – Festival Internazionale di Roma’. In it’s 12th edition the festival will be concerned with the enquiry of the term ‘vacatio’ intended as suspension and absence. ‘Promessa Terra’ is a series of fifteen 40 cm x 50 cm black and white photographs (shot and printed with traditional analogue methods) that survey and deal with the concept of reality by radicalising the hypothesis of a possible future by taking direct inspiration from science fiction literature and genre filmography. Similarly to ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ (Robert Wise, 1951) the photographer foresees an inevitable change. Human alienation is the silent dràma of the project, much like what we encounter in ‘The Man who Fell to Earth’ (Nicolas Roeg, 1976). The symbols present in some of the images imply an ‘alternative’ reading, a parallel to the viewing filter utilised in ‘They Live’ (John Carpenter, 1988).

The Earth is the arrival, not a departure point, presenting a fertile territory for new unfolding events. The alien colonization, implied within this project, does not impose or convey a negative reading of the change suggested in the photographs, moreover it symbolises the cause of a ‘collapse’. As Andrea Attardi describes in his short essay on Guarnaschelli’s series: ‘Very often these photographs are voluntarily ambiguous when reconstructing the imposing and ‘fantastic’ labyrinth that is the irrational space, the afflicted and the concept of hope’. The urban physiognomy is the clarifying element of this dramatization whilst the mood is purposely exaggerated in order to underline a severe critique of the everyday. The installation showcasing the series is created bespoke for Spin (the space hosting the exhibition) and prepared in collaboration with Niccolò Cau and Silvia Litardi, adding a further dimension to the project with the intent of positioning the viewer within the event itself. All the images showcased are traditionally printed and produced in the darkroom by Eugenio and Rolando Corsetti at Laboratorio Fotografico Corsetti.

Francesca Romana Guarnaschelli (Rome, 1983) is a photography graduate of the Istituto Eurpeo di Design. In 2007 she starts collaborating with Laboratorio Fotografico Corsetti where she is currently a curator and project manager. In 2008 she oversaw the curation of the photographic section of the editorial ‘Roma, casa e bottega’, published by Ed/Archi and focusing on the traditional neighbourhood markets of the Italian capital. She was the official photographer for the inaugural edition of the ‘Festa dell’Architettura di Roma’ in 2010 and is currently resident concert photographer for ‘Grinding Halt’. Francesca Romana Guarnaschelli also participated as set photographer for the film ‘Space Metropoliz’ created and directed by Giorgio de Finis and Fabrizio Boni. In 2010 she exhibited a selection of her ‘on set’ images, in the Roman neighbourhood of Trastevere for the documentary on the artist Fausto delle Chiaie titled ‘Robaccia Rubbish’. In October of the same year she presents her first solo show ‘Prima che Cali il Sipario…’, an exhibition curated and presented at Laboratorio Fotografico Corsetti. In May of 2012, Francesca Romana has her first museum show at MAAM (Museo dell’Altro e dell’Altrove) in Rome.