CLARA GUERZONI
interview by Giulia Leonelli
Clara Guerzoni is a young photographer and she often models for her own pictures. She also defines herself as a creative director, a fashion icon and a writer poet. She has an original vision of photography and a unique way of approaching writing through poems. This interview is the result of a written correspondence between the interviewer and the artist, who imagined it as a pleasant chat where she is free to share her flow of words and thoughts. As Clara is used to give a setting to her shots, she sets the scene of the interview at teatime, where she imagines herself talking while sipping English rose tea from a golden-rimmed cup. “Because it has to be this way. Fantasy helps create the truth!”. Her first impulse was to answer the questions in poetry; however, she tried her best to stick to prose while leading us into her world.
You own your pictures all-around, in every way possible, as you’re responsible for the shot and you’re the subject of the portrait as well. Where does this idea come from?
CG. You’re asking me where this idea comes from and why my pictures are all-around mine. An idea, a singular One, why? This idea came from what you could call a voice, a shadow, a soul, that self that lives inside us, which comes to the surface in order to be listened to and brought back to life, to express its own uniqueness. And this is why the idea is one, singular.
The one that takes the picture of the one that exists. A voice calling, the body indulges and the light draws. In a particular moment of emptiness and silence of listening the inner state (shadow/light) connected with what was happening (light/shadow), everything was absorbed and found out the accuracy of the divine plan. All-around, in every way possible, I’m fond of this expression, as it really follows the round flow of energy, seasons, as well as the soul and life itself.
She lived, her shadow,
in full lightness.
Stable on pointe
in a swinging balance.
The back of the hand,
joint to the frame,
connected the silhouette.
Refined, adorned.
Finally emancipated
from her manifest.
She posed in that lens
enclosed aperture,
to the real world
she made accessible her most absolute secret.
It temporarily appears
her ideal world.
Hidden, she reveals herself.
Hidden in your pictures, are there also issues like individualism, self-consciousness, introspection and epiphany? Or is your search only focused on aesthetic?
CG. Introspection, epiphany, mystery, it seems like you know me very well. This is why I say that my photography is a voice that becomes light, a light that becomes voice. It is with poetry that I can capture a life fragment that seems at first pointless., but which represents an image to contemplate with admiration, to me at least. The shots are sensitive easy moments, which keep secrecy and intimacy to themselves. Delicate confessions, barely whispered, emphasising the feminine principle, a mystery veiled by sensuality and origin, from which and for which creativity flows (water, seashells, skin, womb, nudity, nature).
What do you want to convey through your photography?
CG. What does my photography convey? My expression is bare essence. It explores hidden fields and combines the normal function of the senses: it looks at the voice, it hears what you can see and tastes the sound; it wears the sensitivity of the veil and praises imperfection as a distinctive feature of personality and uniqueness. It does not worry about the means or the technique and even less about the goal; if it does not belong to the “earth” it will be part of the “sky”; it does not bother to please the eyes of the ones who are watching, it just follows its nature: “a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose”.
“Inside a seashell she was weaving her pearl. Art composed in her humble fullness, innate strength on her noble soul. It is bravely made into poetry, the deep scar emerges unique and inimitable. Perfection in imperfection, it concerns you. I release my pearl. Something beautiful happens. I take part in the mystery of the heartfelt astonishment”.
How do you take your pictures? Referring both to the technique and the setting you use. Some of your shots are in motion: you can see water flowing or falling, clothes fluttering in the wind. The result comes from capturing the moment.
CG. How do I take my pictures? This makes me smile. It will remain a mystery. It is partly wit, partly genius (genius interpreted as something you rely on and something that happens). Intimacy and secrecy recall mystery. This is another feature of my art. Personality itself has mysterious nuances that even I learn step by step, from time to time, as I live, while I am meeting and getting to know people, as I love, while I read while I write, when experiences present themselves to me. I’ve developed my own technique, which allows me to be at the same time outside and inside the work of art. “On the edge of the canvas, halfway inside the frame”. I just love that intimate moment of connection that makes it perfectly unique as well as a truth guardian.
There is a lot of intimacy in your shots. From the hair to the body, from a book to a kitchen table, but the face is kept hidden.
CG. No face: the face of a soul does not have an identity. It does have movement, balance, flow, light, shadow, memories, music, game. This is why my shots are blurred on purpose, never clear, veiled, full of nuances and I never portray myself full body, in order to focus on the topic, the feeling, the essence, the passion, the game, the coincidence, the instinct and the intuition.
There is also nudity in your pictures. What is the relationship between fashion and nudity? How do people that work in fashion approach a naked body? Is it a new relationship in comparison to the past or is it still a taboo? What does nudity want to convey in your pictures?
CG. For most people, nudity is usually strictly connected for most people to the body and to the flesh, it is considered dirty and vulgar, many people relate it only to the sexual act, impure act. This is not true for the Nature, nor for the Art, neither for Creativity nor for Love. Unfortunately, only the ones who have consciousness and love do not reduce it all to those thoughts. That said, what should be vastness of thought remains a niche. A nudity which is naturally dressed of delicacy, modesty and birth.
“Art covers what undresses us: it fully protects what exposes us to the full”.
“Of a Crib a secured edge
in this differently since ever
it shows photographic memory.
Of Birth it keeps trace
on a deciduous veil it germinates
stripped of everything that dresses it
Of Art it comes back awakened
Lullaby Little Girl!
This way they come, from your crickets
my origins”.
The choice of black and white pictures, whenever you use the colours, they are never bright or vibrant nuances. Why?
CG. Black and white? I believe this choice gives me the opportunity to see all the colours. It strengthens the imagination. That is because they are the amount of all the colours. Once a young girl said to me: “I can see blue skies, in your black and white pictures” and this was extremely surprising to me, because she saw colours and skies where there were none. Therefore, she went beyond the shot, further, and she caught or brought to the surface one side of me or herself which allowed her to surprise me and amaze herself. Being able of letting ourselves be impressed by something that is not specifically visible and objectively portrayed, I think this is the creativity’s language. We allow imagination and feelings to complete the journey.
How do you decide whether your shot is good or not? To what do you pay attention the most? What does a shot look like when you say “Yes, this is a good one, I have got it”?
CG. The choice of the right shot comes from my own personal taste, from what resonates, empathizes and combines eyes and heart together. What makes a great picture? The ability to feel, to capture and embrace, the reflection of the thought of inner life. This is what makes a great picture. Photography as well as poetry, they belong to “making art”, they bring to life an expression of your own essence. I think this particular sensitivity of the heart and of the eye might be innate of perceiving the world on “one’s own way”, capturing a simple moment and making it unique and right.
Are there photographers who inspire you?
CG. My favourite one is Purienne.
Are there any professional projects to which you are attached? Any works which make you proud?
CG. I am fond of every project or single shot. Whether it is set or casual, it always comes from passion, enthusiasm, desire and excitement.
From a small town like Crevalcore, near Bologna, you became one of Vogue’s photographers. What does this path make you feel like today if you look back at the beginning?
CG. The environment where you come from as a place inevitably influences your path. Growing up in the countryside surely allowed to my being to look at horizons, to lose myself in sunsets, to have animals and flowers as friends, to play with lights and shadows, to get muddy, to wash myself in tin basins, to run barefoot, to hang sheets and build huts, tree houses, daisy bracelets and to fly on a swing. Roots, details and memories which still find a place in my artistic expression.
Are there any future projects or professional dreams?
CG. Future projects? This makes me smile again. I am curious too to find out what my muse will suggest me.
What would you like to be remembered for?
CG. I would like to be remembered for my sensitivity, which belongs to a certain way of conceiving one own’s presence into the world, one that never makes noise and moves in silence, very similar to a breath.
This interview comes to an end, thank you for welcoming us into your world.
CG. One last sip of tea before leaving you and thanking you. This interview has allowed a dialogue
between body and soul, feeling and expression, imagination and image.
Making art is like engaging in magic: the instrument of this magic, the language, is mysterious, but
we know everybody has its own shimmering vocabulary to do so.
Thank you.
