Art in the New Normal. Thomas Pool interviews Giulia Berto about her photographic practice.

Adam Erick Wallace by the kitchen counter during a dinner party. Adam, 2013, from the series Behind the Door © Giulia Berto, courtesy of the artist. Christopher’s kitchen, decorated with repurposed street-found objects, The Kitchen, 2013, from the series Behind the Door © Giulia Berto, courtesy of the artist.

Art in the New Normal

THOMAS POOL INTERVIEWS EMERGING ARTIST GIULIA BERTO ABOUT HER PHOTOGRAPHIC PRACTICE.

Thomas Pool: Can you discuss your artistic processes?

Giulia Berto: I am a private person by nature but, in a counter-intuitive way, my work stems from a desire to reflect on and explore my internal world. I depict my feelings as a way of processing them, while challenging myself in a search for meaning. I work predominantly with the medium of analogue photography, both in small and large format, while engaging with themes of love and intimacy, home, emotional displacement and identity.

I am interested in all aspects of my practice; I love the materiality of my work and taking pride in printing it myself with hybrid printing techniques. I have a particular fondness for the written word and in the past few years I have started to combine images with text in the form of short poems as part of my visual language. I can’t get enough of the delicate melancholy of black and white but also need colour’s subtle tenderness; they both come in and out of my practice organically. Research is a big part of my artistic process as I develop a new project idea – it helps me to untangle and refocus my creative thinking.

TP: How has the pandemic changed or influenced your photographic projects?

GB: My photographic work draws from the personal, creating atmospheric imagery and meditative scenes evocative of my own feelings. Because of that, when the pandemic started, my eyes were already turned inwards. With the restrictions brought in by the new normal, I was simply forced to look, both metaphorically and physically, at places I hadn’t considered before.

When I moved to Ireland, I sensed a shift in my artistic practice and I think the pandemic just highlighted a process that was already in motion for me. I believe artistic growth is taking a leap of faith and letting the process unravel naturally. Lately, I have found myself wanting to experi-

ment more, so I very much look forward to seeing where this is going to take me, in terms of my visual language.

TP: What projects have you been working on since we entered the latest phase of lockdown?

GB: The germ of a new project idea has been there since 2019 but not fully formed; it really started to take shape during the first lockdown and into the summer. It has been interesting to see what each stage of the lockdown has brought out in me and how it has impacted the project’s direction and development. I work in a methodical fashion and like to explore my ideas over an extended period of time, so I’ll keep this one close to my chest for a little longer.

TP: What works will you display in the upcoming exhibition at the Blank Wall Gallery in Athens? What can you tell us about them?

GB: The group show at the Blank Wall Gallery in Athens is part of Feature Shoot’s initiative, ‘The Print Swap’. The exhibition was supposed to open at the end of November 2020 but due to Athens having gone into lockdown at that time, it was postponed and new dates are still to be announced.

The photograph selected for it is Wind & Fire, which was taken in Ireland and is part of the ‘Fragments’ series, a longterm black and white project in which I explore how it feels to be together and apart as lovers in a long-distance relationship. Moving across four countries and two continents, ‘Fragments’ is a story of a chase, a love letter slowly unfolding across the sea.

I am particularly excited to be part of this show. ‘The Print Swap’ is a world-wide pool of image makers swapping their work within the community of members, as well as participating in exhibitions all over the world. It is a lovely way to discover other artists, collect photography and to just feel that art is still evolving and adapting, even during these difficult times. Someone in Hanoi received my print but that’s all I know, which makes the process quite mysterious and intriguing.

TP: How do you feel your experiences in Dublin have shaped your career as a photographer?

GB: Since I moved here from New York in 2017, I have been very fortunate. In the past few years I introduced myself to the city’s art scene by connecting with local institutions like Temple Bar Gallery + Studios and its community of artists and the Gallery of Photography Ireland, where I scan and print my work in their Artist’s Digital Studio. I also collaborated with PhotoIreland, who published my ‘Fragments’ series as part of their TLP Editions, and The Darkroom, a non-for-profit devoted to promoting analogue photography, where I had my first solo show in 2019.

I don’t know the full extent of Dublin’s impact on my photographic work and career in general just yet. But in my long-term series, ‘Fragments’, Ireland features heavily as a key component of the project’s identity. So, at the moment, it is a slow process of discovery that I am exploring through collaborations, making new connections and work and ultimately, by being curious about my new home.

TP: What’s next for you?

GB: To continue working on and developing my new project while experimenting and learning new techniques. There is a plan for me to be involved in a group show here in Ireland in the summer, but it hasn’t been confirmed as of yet and it will depend on government regulations. I can’t wait for ‘The Print Swap’ exhibition to open at the Blank Wall Gallery in Athens and apart from that, I’ll keep the pot boiling, my fingers crossed and look forward to brighter days ahead.

Giulia Berto is an Italian photographic artist currently based in Dublin. She is a graduate of the International Center of Photography in New York and holds an MSc in Evolution of Animal and Human Behaviour.

bertogiulia.com

Thomas Pool is a writer and was recently appointed as News Provision coordinator for VAI.