«It was February 29th, a leap year. That day Italo and I met to go to Moraduccio». Thus begins the story of the artistic journey of photographer Alessandro Trapezio and artist Italo Zuffi, which took place ten years ago. Alessandro is cheerful and happy during our meeting, we visit the exhibition together and we lose ourselves within the walls of Alchemilla while anecdotes about this work emerge.
Alessandro Trapezio and Italo Zuffi, “Moraduccio”, 2014-2024, digital print on blueback paper, cm 200 x 140, courtesy of the artists
In February 2014, therefore, Italo and Alessandro seek inspiration to produce a series of portraits and get lost in Moraduccio following the course of the Santerno river. «I usually define myself as a portraitist» explains the latter to me «but as you can see, nature, in some way, often becomes the protagonist in my photos and in this series more than ever». During that journey, the two stop at certain points, Italo moves within the landscape, Alessandro takes pictures. The images that arise from this simple intention, however, transcend the individual who should be the subject and become, unexpectedly and spontaneously, something else. «The lens, rather than focusing on the human, goes on its sparse and suspended presence, which dissolves within the natural landscape, which leans on it until it merges with it, until total rarefaction, in favor of the rock, the earth, the water, the vegetation. And so, the real protagonist of the project is no longer just Italo, but the intertwining of his movement with the surrounding life, his exiting the frame in favor of other existences, other primordial breaths».
Alessandro Trapezio and Italo Zuffi, “Moraduccio (fotografo + soggetto)”, installation view at Alchemilla, Bologna, ph. Vera Roveda, courtesy Alchemilla
The shots taken during that day were collected in an artist’s book, in 2020. But, both due to the arrival of Covid which limited their diffusion, and for many other reasons, the need arose between the two artists to recreate something new starting from those same photos. Thus came the collaboration with the curator Antonio Grulli and from this three-way bond was born the desire and the need to start again a selection of all the photos, even the unpublished ones, not included in the book. The exhibition presented by Alchemilla wants to be a new chapter of this project, autonomous and independent in all respects: it is a precious exhibition of a laboratory and experimental dimension between two artists who dialogue surrounded by the landscape of the Tuscan-Romagnolo Apennines. In the large exhibition spaces the images are dilated and thanks to this change of scale they dialogue with the viewer, underlining the performative component at the origin of the shots and the immersiveness of the environment in which they were taken. The prints were then enlarged to the maximum, creating a true whole with the walls of the ancient rooms of the palace.
Alessandro Trapezio and Italo Zuffi, “Moraduccio (fotografo + soggetto)”, installation view at Alchemilla, Bologna, ph. Vera Roveda, courtesy Alchemilla
The first room, in fact, hosts only one photo. A real symbolism, a macro of a part of Italo’s body in nature. Often, in fact, in this selection the human subject disappears completely at the mercy of a massive and allegorical nature, other times, instead, it becomes the bearer of small natural details, as in the case of the first photo at the beginning of the path. The lighting that warms the photos on the walls is purely laboratory, a metaphor more than fitting for the photographer’s design work. With the exception of the last room, which is completed with a diptych played on the pure tension of the elements. Italo’s body becomes the incarnation of a strong, almost unbearable weight, of an enveloping and fairy-tale nature. Here the light is completely natural, it falls and comes from above, from the original skylight of Alchemilla. One of the most intimate and universal projects visited in Bologna this year. I never wanted to leave those rooms, trapped in Moraduccio, accompanied by Alessandro’s voice.
Info:
Alessandro Trapezio e Italo Zuffi. Moraduccio (fotografo + soggetto)
curated byi Antonio Grulli
21/11 – 21/12/2024
Finissage and talk: 21/12/2024, 6.00 pm
Alchemilla, Palazzo Vizzani
Via Santo Stefano 43, Bologna
www.alchemilla43.it
She was born in Genoa but currently lives in Bologna, the city where she graduated from CITEM with a thesis on video art. She works in the world of events in the production sector and is an assistant professor of Visual Studies at UNIBO.
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