Onur & Liu Shang-Wei catalog

photography career students

onur รถzen

MALOCCHIO

magnetic field final exhibition

FLORENCE UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, 2014

from cover alessandro, polaroid negative, digital print, 136x108 cm, 2014

magnetic field final exhibition

Onur Özen

Malocchio “It has been at least two years since I have had in mind a project on metal music. Since I am a fan of this genre, the subject of my photographs also have to do with my personal sphere.

I am interested in the diffusion at the global level of this kind of music, but also to investigate how music turns into lifestyle and global culture. As a Turkish, it was important to see and meet others fan around the world ... “

BIO

Onur Özen (1988, Çanakkale, Turkey). In 2011 he graduated in Fine Arts from Çanakkale Onsekizmart University, where he specialized in painting; yet he has been passionately dedicating to photography for the last seven years. Between 2007 and 2012 he took part in a number of group exhibitions in Turkey (Intepe Spring Festival, Summer Festival Kucukkuyu; Korffman Library Canakkale, Istanbul University Photography Days; Kayiki Social Project, Greece and Turkey, Canakkale Photography Festival Among Universities Turkey (Organization); İstanbul 22. IFSAK Photography Festival, Pan Visual Culture Studio Canakkale). In 2013 he videos for the event Excentrica (Fly Fashion Loves You, December 2013).

FLORENCE UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, 2014

giuseppe, polaroid negative, digital print, 136x108 cm, 2014

giulia, polaroid negative, digital print, 136x108 cm, 2014

giulio, polaroid negative, digital print, 136x108 cm, 2014

davide, polaroid negative, digital print, 108x73, 2014

photography career students

Liu Shang-Wei

Ombre

magnetic field final exhibition

FLORENCE UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, 2014

Ombre, detail of the installation, variable dimensions, 2014

Ombre, detail of the installation, digital print, 2014

Ombre, detail of the installation, digital print, 2014

Ombre, detail of the installation, digital print, 2014

Ombre, detail of the installation, digital print, 2014

Ombre, detail of the installation, digital print, 2014

magnetic field final exhibition

Liu Shang-Wei,

Ombre “I first started studying photography in high school, where my teacher used to say: photography is not really difficult; difficult is making photographs talk about your feelings. I think a lot about silence. This project is the combination of my investigation of silence in today’s word, and my passion for street photography”.

The project Ombre (Shadows) evokes the uncertainty of the stranger in a world away from someone’s own culture and geography. With the discretion typical of some Eastern civilizations, Liu Shang-Wei addresses the issue of isolation and silence, which, in addition to being an existential condition of the individual, it is also the product of the current state of the world where we all move conveniently ignoring each other. The black and white prints influence the installation choices by Liu Shang-Wei, and complete her whole idea for the show: a chiaroscuroed path, in which the shadow is not the result of a physical presence, but paradoxically, of its absence

BIO

Liu Shang-Wei 1987, Kaohsiung, Taiwan). Her parents, both artists, have infused passion for photography in her veins. While attending school, she became the assistant of a professional photographer. Then she started to create weddings photographic services in studios, until she decided to come to Italy, to continue studying at Diva, and turn photography into her job. Considering the formal aspect of the image secondary, Liu Shang-Wei is interested in photography as a means to record people’s unexpected moods, and to enter in empathic relationships with her subjects.

FLORENCE UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, 2014

Arriving at the exhibition of a someone’s work is always an important step, and an adventure for all parties involved. The students, exposing their photographs to the public for the first time, will be judged by standards and categories not contemplated in class and therefore will be exposed to a completely new context. The mentors/instructors will verify the learning outcome of their students, and will themselves be a part of the public’s eye, which is unaware of the processes involved in the making of the single pieces and the complete show. In order to provide an overall meaning and reading of the exhibition, the curator needs to select pieces, exclude others believed to be masterpieces, and give luster to those who have been previously neglected. By doing this he or she also teaches a lesson to the students: confrontation is crucial in real life, our first choices are not always the best.

Yet we need to make decisions, and when we truly believe in what we are pursuing the results are ultimately fulfilled.

This is my final lesson to Victoria Haleba, Valeriya Kuzmitskaya, Onur Özen, and Liu Shang-Wei, the four students at the end of their Career Program in Photography at DIVA, the School of Digital Imaging and Visual Arts of Florence University of the Arts. In the exhibition Magnetic Field, they reveal their personal attitudes and strong choices, tempered by the common course of study and by the awareness of an external public who will be judging and evaluating only the results of their work, and not the process prior.

Lucia Giardino

Evaluating student work is no easy task for a photography instructor. Behind each image and its printed version are a thousand factors to consider and a thousand obstacles to overcome in determining one’s judgment. Creative ability cannot be studied like a mathematic formula. It cannot be studied in textbooks, it is assimilated in time and students gradually absorb the stimuli necessary to express themselves through their images. Onur, Valeriya, Victoria, and Stella are in different stages of their creative and professional paths. They will surely proceed in different directions upon completing their educational journey. Each of these individuals possesses his or her distinct peculiarities; each has unique resources to brandish and weaknesses to resolve. The images featured at this exhibition are the result of an intense period and each displayed work represents objectives reached and difficulties encountered, elaborated, and overcome. I am extremely proud of how the students have communicated a personal expression, learned and crafted a technique, and discovered a method for observing their personal passions and limits. As a professional photographer I offer my highest congratulations and well wishes to this group for prosperous future careers. As an instructor, I hope that my students will keep their minds open, that they will always find the strength to make their dreams come true, and that they may overcome moments of difficulty.

Simone Pierotti

Magnetic Field includes

Onur Özen Malocchio Liu Shang-Wei Ombre Valeriya Kuzmitskaya Notes Victoria Haleba Insieme Apr. 17 - 24, 2014, F_AIR - Florence Artist in Residence

curated by Lucia Giardino, Simone Pierotti

Catalog Texts Lucia Giardino, Simone Pierotti, David Andre Weiss

Graphics Alberto Simoncioni

Exhibition Logistic Assistants F_AIR - Ganzo Collective, Enrica Quaranta, Nora Takacs

Technical support Alessio Faggi, Enrica Quaranta

Press Office Palazzi Credits and Acknowledgment Gabriella Ganugi - President of Palazzi and Florence University of The Arts David Andre Weiss - Chair of DIVA, Digital Imaging and Visual Arts Giulio Vinci - Palazzi General Manager Lucia Giardino - Professor of Solo Exhibition and Publication of a Solo Work Simone Pierotti - Professor of Special Project 3 Enrica Quaranta - Professor of Photography and Lab Assistant

Onur Özen would like to thank DIVA and its staff, in particular: Lucia Giardino, Simone Pierotti, Enrica Quaranta, Giulio Vinci, David Weiss, Aykan Özener; all people that have made his project possible: Alessandro, Davide, Elisa, Francesco, Gabriele, Giulia, Giulio, Giuseppe, Max, Sera, Tommaso, Valerie, Ufomammut (Urlo, Poia, Vita); and all his family.

Liu Shang-Wei would like to thank her mom F_AIR - Ganzo Collective is a group of selected students of Florence University of the Arts, including students of the course of Gallery Assistant Experiencial Learning, coordinated by Lucia Giardino. Spring 2014 F_AIR - Ganzo Collective includes students Tatyana Valovla, Lama Kaddura, Ivana Malvoni, and Lisa Torquato.

F_AIR – Florence Artist In Residence via San Gallo 45/r 50129 Firenze +39 055 0332950 fair.palazziflorence.com