Walks catalog

WALKS CURATED BY THE FUA GALLERY AND EXHIBITION CURATING EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING COURSE

Mary Madeleine De Regnauld de Belleseize, Jennifer Kelly Hoskins, Haley Markham, Sadie Sullivan

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11.26.14 | 12.03.14 GANZO the creative learning lab of of Florence University of the Arts, continues its program of exhibitions with the works of students.

This event is a collaboration between students from an arts high school in Pistoia (Liceo Artistico Petrocchi) and those of a FUA course (Introduction to Digital Photography).

The Exhibition is a new way to “learn” how to deal with other cultures and other people.

The “Walks” exhibit is made up of photography and fine art depicting student interpretations of walks they took with the goal to create an atmosphere that sparks conversation and to showcase the work of new artists.

Enrica Quaranta is a photography professor at Florence University of the Arts.

Her Introduction to Digital Photography class is responsable for the images in this show.

Stefano Martini is a Liceo Artistico Professor in Pistoia. His class focused on sculpture and painting.

The works he has chosen to display at Ganzo are by students completing their 5th year of high school.

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R O S S I E L L O

Faculty Coordinator

WALKS

FUA FLORENCE UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS STUDENTS

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C L A R A O L D

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K I N N E Y P O R T R A I T S

As I have lived in Florence, Italy for the past few months I have searched for something heart warming to make me feel more at home. One thing that has always made me smile was the many different facial expressions and attitudes of old men.

I find them hysterical. Older generations have the tendency to not give a care in the world about what they say or do, and they are always right. These old men can be the most caring and loving people and at the same time be bluntly rude. For this project, I focused on the many expressions of old men, some Italians and some tourists.

In one photograph, I asked a couple to pose just outside of the school building.

As I got ready to take their photograph I asked them to look at each other and be natural. The expression the husband gave his wife was incredible. In contrast to this photograph, one day I was walking around and noticed an old man reading a book.

I asked him if I could take his picture and he just stared at me; so I squatted and took his picture. He did not move one bit. His expression, also amazing, was quite different. These two pictures together capture the whole aspect that I love about old men - their extreme, blunt personality and their loving, joking personality.

My name is Clara Kinney. I am from Oxford, MS and am currently a senior at the University of Mississippi. I am taking Introduction to Photography at FUA.

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Health is one of those things that many people take for granted. It is important that we focus on living a good full life. This guy was on his way to the gym when we stopped him in my Digital photography class. Working out is important for us as people because it helps the body as well as the mind remain in top form.

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Sometimes the best pictures are the unexpected ones.

They are the moments we capture in life as they are. We stopped these two girls in our Digital Photography class and asked to take their picture. They kept laughing and the only serious picture I took of them was when they were caught off guard.

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O L D For this assignment we were asked to capture portraits of strangers. I drew attention to the most fashionable, eye catching and striking women around Italy. I was intrigued by the fashion statements they made, and photographed exactly what I saw.

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B I K E R S

While living in Florence the presence of bikers is more prominent than in my hometown. It is interesting to watch the bikers zip by, always in a hurry, and question where it is they are going. What is happening in their life that I know nothing about? I sat on a bridge next to the bike lane and just observed the bikers zoom past for a while, then I began to notice their faces and postures. The faces and postures told a story about who that biker really is. Some would be talking on the phone, others would be deep in thought, and others would be watching the scenery pass by. I decided that I wanted to capture the thoughts and faces of the bikers who always seem to be in a hurry.

In general, the bikers are blurry while the background remains in focus, which shows the movement of the bikers. While they are blurry, the faces still remain visible and the expressions are still prominent. These bikers have lives and their paths only cross mine for a few seconds before they are gone again. They are there for as long as it takes my shutter to open and close again. Being able to capture these strangers for that short moment in their life gives me a sense of joy. I feel like a stranger trying to peek into a window to observe, just for a moment, to learn about what is on other side. I can never truly know what is happening in these strangers lives, but I can get a good feeling about how they felt on their journey that day.

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M A C K E N Z I E H E R C U L A N E U M

K O L L I N G P O R T R A I T S

I recently visited the ruins of Herculaneum. As I explored this world that was foreign to me, I was struck by the idea that this world was foreign to everyone. Having lived in a city with a large tourist industry for the past few months, I have found myself in an in-between stage, of being both a tourist and a resident. Unlike typical places that people visit, everyone in this world was a tourist. I decided to observe the ways in which people explored this environment which was simultaneously ancient and new.

Every person was out of place, in a land that was alien to them. I enjoyed capturing people in their moments, without their knowledge, and how they act when they think no one is watching. Specifically, for this project, how they interact with the space around them. I wondered how they related with the people who walked these streets over a thousand years ago. I was curious about what they thought of their houses, their places of work, their personal spaces. What were their expectations in coming to this place, and how was that met with reality? Every person I chose to photograph struck me in some way as they, like me, were exploring these spaces. Their postures, their expressions, their concentration, their stillness, their awe. Each character contrasted with the landscape in a strange, awkward, and, as I found, beautiful way.

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W A I T I N G

On the sidewalks of Florence, near piazza Santa Croce, two girls waiting for the bus.

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V I S O

I felt the most important part of this series was trust. As an extremely new photographer I am not comfortable asking strangers to pose for me, and I’m not great directing them into poses I find pleasing; in this sense I was as unprepared for these pictures as my unwitting models. Some of these people appeared to be extremely self conscious or nervous; one woman asked that I only capture her face and avoid the rest of her body, I was told by people that they were too ugly to let me photograph them - some of these people later let me do so. Why was trust so important? These people were nervous being posed and talked to by a stranger, they gave the impression that they didn’t like having their picture taken, and to be honest I didn’t like having to ask them, but we both tried to help each other through the process and look good doing so.

S T E P S For this project I documented the walks I take almost daily.

The pictures in this section give a spread of the tourist filled Florence and the outskirts of the living modern Firenze. Most of the images I took are of people who were not at work on a weekday morning, or else had their work take them outside.

Consequently, I think, or at least I hope my pictures resulted in a sort of gritty quality. Many of my subjects appeared unhappy to me, many of them seemed to be deep enough in their own thoughts that wearing headphones made me all but invisible to them even with my camera.

I feel as if my presence is known in some of these pictures, and that in others the subjects are totally oblivious and deeply fascinated with their own day.

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YOU WANT ME TO POSE LIKE THIS? Some people just love to be in front of a camera.

I N T R O S P E C T I O N You can almost feel his wisdom just by the look in his eyes.

P A O L O Paolo steping out for a smoke break.

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A L E S S A N D R O T R A V E L L I N G

V E R D A N O O B S T A C L E S

Earth, water and air are the elements that the traveller has to overcome in his path.

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The pilgrim travels with effort the long voyage of life.

Only with help can he facilitate his journey.

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In a voyage where the path is predetermined, like in the bottom of the river, the unknown is what you will find between the start and the end.

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F R A N C E S C O L’ E S O D O A spiritual voyage of escape.

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Gulliver is the symbol of an individual who during the voyage does not limit himself to explore the known lands, but overpasses imaginary boundaries.

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I tried to connect the old and the modern ways of navigation during voyages.

(The scheme represented is of the metropolitan area in Washington, DC.)

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The station is a surreal place, outside of the rhythm of the city, it’s a continuous renovation of lives that charge the atmospheres that prelude a voyage.

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W O L F The wolf is considered a master, who after traveling returns to his pack to share his observations and his experiences. For this reason Native Americans wore wolf fur when exploring new territories.

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Time is the ball and chain of life. Every minute is a step. The only certainty is that time will never end.

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M A C A L U S O E T E R N A

The voyage after death, to reach eternal life.

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WALKS

WALKS 11.26.14 | 12.03.14 GANZO Via dei Macci 85/r Firenze

Mary Madeleine De Regnauld de Belleseize, Jennifer Kelly Hoskins, Haley Markham, Sadie Sullivan Student Curators

Giovanni Rossiello Faculty Coordinator

Gabriella Ganugi President

Giulio Vinci DIVA and IDEAS Academic Coordinator

David Weiss DIVA Chair

Stefano Martini Instructor - Liceo Artistico di Pistoia

Enrica Quaranta FUA Instructor - Intro to Digital Photography - DIVA

Susanna Bausi Press Office

Alberto Simoncioni Graphic Design

Acknowledgements Special thanks to the staff at Ganzo

www.fua.it | www.ganzoflorence.com