“Ognuno di noi è più di uno, è molti, è la prolissità di se stesso.”
(Fernando Pessoa)
“Each of us is various, many people, a prolixity of selves.”
(Fernando Pessoa)
Galleria Carla Sozzani presents IT IS I, the first chapter in a project conceived by Monica Dematté in 2003 about self-portraits in photography. The medium of photography was chosen for its apparent ‘objectivity’ and relative simplicity.
Twenty-one Chinese artists were asked to produce between one and ten self-portraits. Some of them are professional photographers, while others work in different techniques such as painting. The curator says, “I wanted to find out whether they would accept the challenge and free themselves of the fixed role in which it is so easy to become imprisoned, and of the habit, often limiting, which more familiar means of expression bring. I hoped each of them would first of all interrogate himself or herself in search of something as unexpressed yet in which to identify himself or recognise himself completely or in part.”
Artists who have made self-portraits the leitmotif of their careers were not invited to participate, in the conviction that their ‘self’ would be too professionally determined.
IT IS I is not just an art exhibition. Its purpose is not to obtain or show images of significance, which are visually pleasurable or strong, but rather to put us in front of a mirror in which every artist may express himself or herself beyond all formal preoccupation.
The term ‘self-portrait’ means something much vaster than one might initially think. A self-portrait might be defined as ‘anything that can represent or replace oneself’, in this case produced through photography.
What is truly important is the choice made by the individual artist: which part or perspective each has recognised as representative. These are highly personal, original points of view with which we may not always agree.
The exhibition was produced for the Pingyao International Photo Festival (Pingyao, Shanxi province, People’s Republic of China) in September 2003. After this it was hosted by Beijing Tokyo Art Projects (BTAP) in factory 798 (Beijing) in October 2004.
Professor Maurizio Giuffredi, one of the biggest experts on photographic self-portraits, contributed an essay to the catalogue and inspired and supported the project right from the start.
IT IS I
Self-portraits by 21 Chinese artists
Curated by Monica Dematté
Artistic direction by Daniela Morera
“Ognuno di noi è più di uno, è molti, è la prolissità di se stesso.”
(Fernando Pessoa)
“Each of us is various, many people, a prolixity of selves.”
(Fernando Pessoa)
Galleria Carla Sozzani presents IT IS I, the first chapter in a project conceived by Monica Dematté in 2003 about self-portraits in photography. The medium of photography was chosen for its apparent ‘objectivity’ and relative simplicity.
Twenty-one Chinese artists were asked to produce between one and ten self-portraits. Some of them are professional photographers, while others work in different techniques such as painting. The curator says, “I wanted to find out whether they would accept the challenge and free themselves of the fixed role in which it is so easy to become imprisoned, and of the habit, often limiting, which more familiar means of expression bring. I hoped each of them would first of all interrogate himself or herself in search of something as unexpressed yet in which to identify himself or recognise himself completely or in part.”
Artists who have made self-portraits the leitmotif of their careers were not invited to participate, in the conviction that their ‘self’ would be too professionally determined.
IT IS I is not just an art exhibition. Its purpose is not to obtain or show images of significance, which are visually pleasurable or strong, but rather to put us in front of a mirror in which every artist may express himself or herself beyond all formal preoccupation.
The term ‘self-portrait’ means something much vaster than one might initially think. A self-portrait might be defined as ‘anything that can represent or replace oneself’, in this case produced through photography.
What is truly important is the choice made by the individual artist: which part or perspective each has recognised as representative. These are highly personal, original points of view with which we may not always agree.
The exhibition was produced for the Pingyao International Photo Festival (Pingyao, Shanxi province, People’s Republic of China) in September 2003. After this it was hosted by Beijing Tokyo Art Projects (BTAP) in factory 798 (Beijing) in October 2004.
Professor Maurizio Giuffredi, one of the biggest experts on photographic self-portraits, contributed an essay to the catalogue and inspired and supported the project right from the start.