Arte Fiera focus 2/3: delicacy, refinement and motherhood in Anna Di Prospero's photographs from MLB

The second appointment with our insights into the most compelling stands at Arte Fiera, the great modern and contemporary art fair that in 2020 reaches its 44th edition, is dedicated to the MLB - Maria Livia Brunelli gallery in Ferrara, which dedicates a single show to the young photographer Anna Di Prospero (Rome, 1987): minimal set-up, the photos divided into series, the public lingering to admire her delicacy, refinement and lyricism. MLB’s booth alternates between the most recent works, but also photographs from the beginning of the career of this Roman artist who, despite her young age, has already exhibited in important contexts: at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome, at the Triennale in Milan, and at the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua (where she exhibited in a duo show together with the Austrian Heinz Lechner).

“Anna Di Prospero,” Maria Livia Brunelli, with whom we spoke at the fair, is convinced of this, "is one of the most interesting artists among those who use photography in Italy, and her work is made up of evocative photographic series that arise from a well-defined, studied artistic project, the result of a path of which photography is the final product. We liked the idea of bringing Anna Di Prospero to a fair, to a booth that would allow a good understanding of her reality, also because she is an artist who has already had important recognition, even at the international level."

And the public response is indeed good: MLB’s booth is one of the most attention-grabbing ones in Hall 15. Visitors are greeted bySelf-Portrait with Mother (shown here in the only copy, which cannot be sold: the editions have already sold out) and then move on to the series dedicated to the seventeenth-century painter Carlo Bononi, the master of the belle époque Giovanni Boldini, the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua and the recent birth of his son Carlo. “I have to say,” Maria Livia Brunelli continues, “that Anna Di Prospero has received acclaim and great appreciation from many, starting from the director of the fair, to even the security guards, who have even invented stories inspired by the photographs. Love stories, stories of loves that go right or wrong depending on how the individual reads the photographic sequence.” Yes, because Anna Di Prospero’s photographs deliberately leave a lot of room for interpretation by the viewer. “The beauty of Anna’s works,” says the gallery owner, “is that everyone puts their own spin on them, because they are empathetic, engaging, persuasive, and allow one to enter inside the art with the heart.”

MLB’s booth at Arte Fiera 2020

The artist trained at the European Institute of Design in Rome and the School of Visual Arts in New York, began exhibiting in 2008, with her first solo show within Fotografia-Festival Internazionale di Roma, and from there it has been a crescendo of successes that have seen her exhibit in several countries. Awards include 2nd place at the Sony World Photography Awards in 2014 (for the “portrait” cateograde), the Discovery of the year award at the Lucie Awards in 2011, the Level 0 award at ArtVerona in 2017, and then again at ArtVerona, but in 2019, the LCA Legal award for Photography Under 35. And Anna is now recognized as one of the most crystalline talents of young Italian photography. Her photography is rooted in art history: the rarefied atmospheres of the Dutch seventeenth century come to mind, and critic Antonio Grulli also speaks of Hopper’s silences, Pina Bausch’s dance, Frank Gehry’s architecture for series that combine self-portraiture (one of Anna Di Prospero’s favorite mediums) with urban views. And then there are also explicit homages to the art of the past, such as those, mentioned above, to Bononi and Boldini, made for MLB on the occasion of exhibitions on the two artists held in past years at Palazzo dei Diamanti.

At the fair we also have a chance to exchange a few words with Anna Di Prospero, and we ask her what the value ofself-portraiture is for her. “It is a choice I made from the very beginning,” the artist explains. “Since I began to photograph, eleven years ago, I started to delve into this subject, which I feel is dictated by my curiosity in personal exploration: this is because, having started photography that I was very young, photography was also a tool for growth, to get to know myself. And then, my relationship with self-portraiture is something I wanted and have deepened over the years.” In her portraits, however, Anna is never presented with her face turned toward the viewer. It is always with her back turned, or it is covered, or otherwise not visible. This way of working is dictated by a very specific intention: “I don’t want to give a direct identity to my person,” she explains. “What you see in the image is a representation of a woman, no matter what her name is or what her identity is. I always try to leave a part for the viewer to identify with.”

Anna Di Prospero, Portrait of father with son (2019; digital photograph, fine art inkjet print, 100 x 67 cm)

Anna Di Prospero, Central Park #2 (2015; digital photography, fine art inkjet print, 100 x 67 cm)

Anna Di Prospero, Self portrait with my mother (2011; digital photography, fine art inkjet print, 100 x 67 cm)

Anna Di Prospero, Ducal Palace, Corridor of the Moors (2018; digital photography, fine art inkjet print, 100 x 67 cm)

Her proposal fascinates mainly female audiences, who find themselves in those light-hearted shots that depict her together with her son and family members in an atmosphere of intense poetry. Her photographs seem almost like representations of a feeling, but there is also more: there is aninvestigation of affections and their transposition into images. Images that, however, while starting from the artist’s experience, seek to range beyond it. Take, for example, the theme of motherhood. “I found myself very much in it,” says Anna Di Prospero, “because my photography has always taken its cue from my personal. However, I do not believe that mine is an autobiographical work: it starts from my experience, but I believe that photography is a tool to examine reality and understand it. With the birth of my son, I returned to work on a series dedicated to the most intimate and familial ties that was born in 2011, when I made the self-portrait with my mother, which is part of the series of self-portraits with family, where, with each of the family members, I tried to examine the nature of our relationship. Eight years later, I have returned to work on this theme firstly because I am interested in following the evolution and transformation of the family as a theme of photographic research, and secondly because my intention is to approach the themes from a more generic, more universal point of view.”

Finally, we ask her what are her future plans. “Motherhood has certainly changed my life, both personally and professionally,” Anna tells us, “although in reality I have never stopped, because even when I was pregnant I made the work on Giovanni Boldini, and after the birth of Carlo the photographs dedicated to him were made, but I do not hide that I am in a period of transit, where I am still not clear what the next step will be, where the work will take me. Certainly for me it is fundamental to always seek a connection with what has come before: the coherence of my work is an important element, and there will be no detachment with respect to the series already tackled. This does not scare me, on the contrary: I find that a little bit of uncertainty makes everything very exciting.”

Pictured below: Anna Di Prospero, The first self-portrait with my son (2019; digital photography, fine art inkjet print, 100 x 67 cm)

Arte Fiera focus 2/3: delicacy, refinement and motherhood in Anna Di Prospero's photographs from MLB

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.