Penone, Sagaria and Bolin donate their photographic self-portraits to the Uffizi

The Uffizi Galleries’ collection of self-portraits is enriched: in fact, Giuseppe Penone, Ilaria Sagaria and Liu Bolin, three of the world’s most influential contemporary artists, have donated their photographic self-portraits to the Florentine museum, thus bringing three different trends in contemponea art. While Ilaria Sagaria’s work, an actual photograph, manipulates and distorts the image of the author, those of Giuseppe Penone and Liu Bolin immortalize artistic performances that, in the first case, linger on the relationship between man and nature and, in the second, explore the concept of individuality. The donations will enrich the vast collection inaugurated by Leopold de’ Medici, which recently found space in the Uffizi’s new rooms.

Reversing One’s Eyes by Giuseppe Penone is an introspective journey practiced from the outside, separating the author from his own self and connecting him, at the same time, with his sensibility as a poet: through a pair of mirrored lenses, the artist attempts to return to the viewer what his eyes absorb from the external environment, including the photographer who is documenting it. The lenses, however, blind him, thus severing the channel between mind and pupil, between man and nature: by eliminating himself from the visual action, Penone is self-reconducting as pure body, preventing the mind from reworking what his eyes have perceived and thus conveying an unaltered, raw, pure vision. At the same time, it is the artist who guides and controls the whole process: it is he who decides when and where to wear the lenses, how to move, the shots to be selected. In this sense, Penone casts himself in the role of a seer: by momentarily abstracting himself from reality, but still holding the reins, Penone manages to penetrate into a deeper dimension, not present, but past and future. By voluntarily depriving himself of sight, Penone achieves sensory purity and becomes a medium between the world and the observer. The lenses become a source of primordial images, devoid of any interference, which the author transmits like an oracle.

Ilaria Sagaria also chooses not to show her eyes. In Dismorphophobia, the photographer appears dystopically distorted: her neck is elongated, her gaze sucked into a graphic modification that engulfs the central part of her face. The accentuated black and white and the invasive graininess of the graphics accentuate the attempt to distort her image; the resulting face is counterfeit, destabilizing, and blurs the already blurred boundary between real and digital. In psychiatric circles, dysmorphia is an obsessive-compulsive disorder that magnifies the perception of certain features of one’s body, often slight or nonexistent, generating anxiety and discomfort. In an era when every photograph is shaped, manipulated and modified to be more appealing, Ilaria Sagaria investigates the relationship with one’s image, and therefore, with one’s identity. Dismorphophobia stems from the need to highlight the effects that the distorted perception of one’s image can generate: the uncontrolled use of filters to eliminate every flaw distances us from our reality, from the truth of ourselves. The risk is that of being drawn into the vortex that has encompassed the eyes of the protagonist of the self-timer, of not recognizing ourselves to such an extent that we no longer want to look at ourselves.

Liu Bolin, on the other hand, totally erases one’s visual perception: through a synthesis of painting, photography and performance, his works challenge visual perception itself, confusing the viewer’s mind. After blending into the surrounding background with a meticulous process of total body painting, Liu Bolin, remaining as still as a living sculpture, has himself photographed in iconic, emblematic and even disturbing locations, dissolving into the work itself and together giving body to the meaning of the depicted environment. For the Hiding in Florence project, Liu Bolin renounced his identity to embrace that of an ordinary visitor, choosing to disappear into the Sala della Niobe, blend in among the sculptures of the Venus Room in the Palatine Gallery of the Pitti Palace, and become part of the Sala Bianca. In an attempt to identify with the public, he inevitably found a direct line that reunited him with the great masters of the 16th century.

“In 2021, the Uffizi dedicated an exhibition to Giuseppe Penone that retraced the central themes of the artist’s work,” commented Uffizi Galleries director Eike Schmidt. "To coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Ilaria Sagaria’s photographic shots from the cycle Pain is not a Privilege were set against the bust of Bernini’s Costanza Bonarelli, who was also a victim of violence by the sculptor her lover. In keeping with the tradition of the Uffizi Galleries, I asked both artists to donate a self-portrait of themselves. I am delighted that their generous gesture was joined by that of Liu Bolin, who, coming to Florence for the first time in the fall of 2022, and overwhelmed by their beauty and richness our museums, decided to make no less than three different self-portraits. Penone, Sagaria and Bolin now join the nucleus of living authors in our prestigious collection of self-portraits, which, since the 17th century, continues, month after month, to grow."

“In July 2021 of my works entered some rooms of the Uffizi and for a few months they dialogued with the masterpieces present,” said Giuseppe Penone. “It was a temporary belonging that continued over time only in my mind. I took with great pleasure the opportunity to give, to one of my works, the possibility of being present in the museum’s collection of self-portraits. It is a 1970 photograph that documents my face while wearing mirrored contact lenses that blind my gaze and reflect what I should see, separating my body from the world of images that surround me and feed my imagination.”

“This work stems from a personal need to draw attention to the effects that a distorted perception of one’s body image can cause,” said Ilaria Sagaria. “But mine is a reflection that does not look for the negative effects in the tools themselves, or at least not in all of them: the digital world and even social networks can be a valuable resource if used with a positive and critical attitude, but to make this happen it is necessary not to ignore the concerns and anxieties of an extremely fragile generation and above all to recognize the responsibilities and role one has in this worrying scenario.”

"Working on the Hiding in Florence project,“ Liu Bolion finally added, ”was a unique experience that allowed me to experience the full power and strength of Renaissance art. In Florence, culture and art have remained precious and essential for centuries. This project was a great opportunity especially to get in touch with great artists of the past such as Giorgio Vasari, Antonio Canova, Pieter Paul Rubens and other masters who made Florence one of the most fascinating cities in the world."

Penone, Sagaria and Bolin donate their photographic self-portraits to the Uffizi

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