Maria Giovanna Sodero joins the project «Young Italian Artists. Contemporary Art Stories», ongoing space and archive dedicated to key players in the contemporary art world, who are under 35, conceived by Antonello Tolve, and curated with Elena Giulia Rossi.
If every moment becomes part of the past, what remains and what is real? In my research I observe fragments of reality.
“Cinema, born of a technological invention, is the art that matches humanity’s growing urge
to master ‘the real world’.”[1]
Something pulsates under the crust and makes me remember, bringing me closer to those places in my memory which accompany me in my personal research. During my exploration ideas arise that are subsequently developed through images; photography and video are the best mediums for achieving my goal and are often contained in the materialisation of the concept.
In the work Memòria tac re, created in 2021, the box represents a container for stories, narratives drawn by light that begin to exist, that can be observed while we wait for something to happen. The height of the box makes the viewing experience uncomfortable, sometimes like that of remembering, becoming a challenge between our voyeurism and our body, revealing our physical limitations and immediately producing a reflection on the body as a unit of measurement. A large viewfinder forms an external view within the depth of my vision. The choice of perspective represents an intimate way of being, of interpreting reality. I am not particularly interested in perfecting the quality of the image as I often feel I want to leave space to the narrative. The perception of the world is an act of seeing.
The work Io ti vedo (I See You), created in 2018 for the exhibition “Pulsazioni”, organised with Rome Fine Arts Academy, is connected with the work Memòria tac re, even though they are years apart. Io ti vedo reveals the stratification of time, evidenced through the act of tearing, unveiling. This is achieved by superimposing my digital photographs on a series of analogue photographs I have collected. The project allows traces of the past to emerge that bursts into the everyday, coming back to coexist with the present, which is also a work in material form, to feel a concept articulated, present before us, coexisting with us.
“Archival objects serve as found arks of lost moments in which the here-and-now of the work functions as a possible portal between an unfinished past and a reopened future.”[2]
In my work, memory often resurfaces as a narrative thread. Even if this is not always explicit, it often accompanies me in my search for a story told through images.
[1] Sculpting in Time, Andrei Tarkovsky, year of publication, 1997
[2] Hal Foster
Maria Giovanna Sodero (1991, San Donà di Piave, Italy) lives and works between Salento and Rome. In 2011 she has started her studies at the IUAV in Venice with Mario Airò. She currently studies at the Fine Arts Academy in Rome.
Young Italian Artists. Contemporary Art Stories
Project conceived by Antonello Tolve and curated with Elena Giulia Rossi
