Learn From Experience: Fabian Albertini
Fabian Albertini (b.1965) is an Italian artist based between Reggio Emilia and Rio de Janeiro.
Albertini is guided by her interests in perception, movement, the relationship between man and environment through dialogues between art and spirituality. Combining photography, installation, and overpainted photographs, her projects often show fieldwork in remote locations – such as deserts, volcanos, and rainforests.
In her early work, she has explored the complexity of consciousness creating performances interpreted by contemporary dancers inside the environment, publishing five books on this theme from 2000 to 2010.
What are the rules of your photographic work?
There are no rules.
Tell us about an experience that definitely changed the way you work and made you grow.
I can see three big changes in my path: the first when I became an assistant at Superstudio13, the second when I met a French choreographer who introduced me to the world of dance, and in 2011 when I met my partner and we started traveling around the deserts of the world.
When you photograph with your camera do you notice the same things you notice with your eyes or do your eyes capture what the camera doesn't allow you to look at?
In my case, it is more the second part. I use the machine to recreate the invisible in appearance, my latest research is precisely on perception, which changes constantly depending on who the observer is.
If you were to create an open call, a contest, what kind of theme would you give? What would you like to look at and why?
Freedom would be the title, without any limits of age or content, maximum expression freedom. More often I found open calls really boring, with repeated themes and too political choices.
Tell us about your equipment, what kind of cameras do you shoot with what tools do you use and prefer?
My equipment changes according to the project which I am working on. I can use analogic cameras such as Pentax 6x7 or 6x4,5 or switch to the digital with Nikon or Leica.
What do you think is highly conflicting with the concept of photography?
Politics, multinationals, mass globalization.
Are there any books you would recommend?
Sure!
1984 George Orwell, 33 artists in 3 acts Sarah Thornton, Marcel Duchamp. La vie à crédit, Bernard Marcadé.
Tell us about your creative process and if there are any particular techniques you use during your work. (If you have any photos of this, please send them as an attachment).
My creative process has changed many times over the years. I started my career as a fashion photographer in the 90s in Milan, working in analog with medium and large format, where there was no photoshop and you had to create the perfect image in one click. Now in the digital and post-production era, I have reversed my way of thinking. I create the project, I shoot ... shoot a lot... I let it settle like a good wine for months, and then I pick up the material and choose the perfect images for the concept that has developed further inside me, due to the experience of travel, to reading books, to endless research on the subject in question.
What do you do with the discarded photos?
I keep all the discarded photos in paper or digital archives, because sometimes I recreate projects with archive photos, for example, Controlled Lives.
· Do you follow a particular photographer or magazine?
I follow several photographers, some examples: Wolfgang Tilmans, Julian Charrière, JR, Thomas Ruff.
Regarding magazines: Doc Photo Magazine, Flash Art, C41 Magazine, Yogurt Magazine, Another Magazine, Burn Magazine, Foam Magazine.
Fabian Albertini