Venetia Dearden Photo Exhibition at Spazio Italia
October 07, 2008
| We ask all ITS#PHOTO applicants a question: "If you had not done photography what would you be doing now?" The winner of the Air Dolomiti Photo Award at ITS#SEVEN Venetia Dearden replied: "I can't imagine what else I would do other than photography, it's all I have ever done. Anthropology?" Venetia is passionate about people, the environment and the possible relationships between the two. It's something that literally jumps off the pages of her work: Eye contact bewteen a mother and her daughter cooking together in the kitchen while a single ray of light from the window shines on only half of their faces. A 2-year old blond naked girl standing on a chair in the kitchen chewing on a fresh pastry and staring astounded at her sister who stares back with a funny face... |
Venetia described "the other" - the concept that was given to all ITS#SEVEN photography applicants - as a relational concept. The pictures she entered in the competition powerfully expressed a research on relationships, on the way other people and the surroundings we live in shape our own character and make us who we are. Space does not only affect the way the pictures will look like, the colours, or the way the light will change the scene. Space is a character itself that shapes our persona as much as people do. Every picture is an intricate web of possible relationships. One single frame of life that tells a whole story. A frame where everything, from the background to the characters, is intimately connected to each other. The Air Dolomiti Award gave Venetia the possibility to showcase her work inside Munich International Airport for all travellers to see. Pictures were displayed from 23 September to 8 October in "Spazio Italia", 120 square meters next to the 12 gates reserved for Lufthansa Regional airlines, intended as an exclusive area for all passengers to relax i before the flight. The gates surround the whole area so passengers are driven towards it, making it an excellent space for exhibitions and a great opportunity for visibility. |
 As you can see from the pictures in this article, not only Venetia's project was on display, but also references to ITS like the magenta heart (the trophy we give to all winners), a globe showing all countries represented at the event, posters of the last edition, artistic portfolios from past finalists and also videos of ITS#SEVEN showing on two big flat screens. We turned Spazio Italia into a tiny ITS installation completely dedicated to Venetia's work! A member from our team flew to Munich to set-up the whole exhibition. When he came back he told us how interesting it was to see passengers walk by with their tickets in hand and stop to watch the photos and the ITS videos. Passengers with plenty of time to spend and others with only a couple minutes before boarding time. |
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Thinking about passengers that bump into the Spazio Italia installation almost by chance is quite fascinating. We like to imagine that maybe a number of travellers were surprised and moved by those photos. Maybe they were just walking by in a hurry with their ticket in their hand, thinking who knows what, headed towards their plane directed who knows where. Or maybe they were sitting down and bored with plenty of time before stepping onto their plane. Maybe their eyes just caught a glimpse of Venetia's pictures by chance, and they were instinctively attracted to them for some reason. Maybe those pictures so focused on discovering the relationship between people and environment created new relationships with the viewers. They might carry those pictures in their memories for ages. And maybe Venetia was not expecting that... |
