India in Ivana Sunjic's shots on display at Turin's Albertina Art Gallery

The Nov. 7 opening of the solo exhibition Reborn - Through India To My Soul by photographer Ivana Sunjic (Split, 1972), a Nikon School lecturer and bestselling book author, will be held at the Talucchi Rotunda of the Albertina Art Gallery in Turin. The exhibition will be on view until Dec. 8. The exhibition is a journey that includes a selection of 80 photographic shots taken in the fall of 2023 by the photographer in a ghetto in Varanasi in northern India, considered the spiritual capital of the country and there where the sacred river Ganges constitutes the only place on earth where the gods, according to Hinduism, allow humans to escape Samsara and Mokcha, a perpetual cycle of life, death and rebirth from which every soul is imprisoned.

The artist, who was also an assistant to photojournalist and portraitist Steve McCurry, considered among the greatest exponents of contemporary photography, funded her project with a fundraising campaign of more than 100 donors who have kept their participation active since 2019. Ivana, with the theme of rebirth, encountered stories, landscapes, traditions and gazes of a country with a millennial history and, with her signature essential style, returned the suggestions of her lens in images entitled Reborn. In them, life and death, beginnings and endings, acquire a unique and inseparable flavor: a season among infinite seasons is consumed among the most crowded streets of the globe, in a country of a thousand contrasts and where the accentuated spiritual component is proverbial. Sunjic specializes in fine art portraiture, fashion photography and travel photography in addition to teaching photography through an exclusive personal method. With the American master, the artist shared that search for the most genuine soul of people that, at an unspecified moment of observation, can manifest itself changing the course of things. In the year that Turin is increasingly asserting itself internationally as one of the capitals of photography, in anticipation of Exposed, the new International Festival of Photography to be held in May, the Reborn exhibition is a celebration of the photographic medium.

“My journey to India consisted of finding a new photography, my own,” said Ivana Sunjic, “the one that looks like no other, the one that digs inside and has no excuses. It expresses itself in a recognizable language that can be traced back to only one thing: myself. For me there is only one way out, to throw myself into an overwhelming photographic quest. Facing my demons, photographing them, forgiving them, one by one, asking the angels to be supportive and joyfully, reborn.”

“I started photography in 2002 and almost by mistake, with a basic course full of technicalities and negative judgments and I understood almost nothing. I spent years making mistakes and searching for the answer to the question: what makes a beautiful photograph become an extraordinary photograph? I came to that answer through the hard work and teaching of my teacher Steve McCurry, whose assistant I later became. It has been an exciting, tiring and wonderful journey at the same time. Over the years I have published in magazines in Italy and abroad, done numerous exhibitions and, followed clients of worldwide prestige, but the thing that has made me happiest is not my successes but those of my students; my heart is opened when they even surpass my knowledge and manage to go beyond the boundaries explored together until then. This is where it comes full circle and everything becomes magic,” said the photographer.

Notes on the artist

Ivana was born in Croatia in 1972 and moved to Italy in 2001, after a regime, a war, two degrees (History of Art and Letters) and a doctorate in Architecture; upon moving she completely lost her identity and regained it through photography. Previously she was marketing director of the National Theater of Croatia as well as director of the prestigious Split Jazz Festival of which she was a founder (Diana Krall, Ray Charles, Michael Brecker, McCoy Tyner...). Today in his resume he adds: Bestselling author of the books The Perfect Photography: Create it with Eyes, Mind and Heart and The Perfect Shot: How to see it before you take it according to the Ivana Porta Method; Manfrotto Ambassador, Master Nikon School; Influencer and mentor online, with tens of thousands of followers and free most significant content exceeding 1.500,000 views; Founder of the brand IO FOTOGRAFO®, the most comprehensive photography course in Italy, whose Community counts a thousand students and is one of the strongest and most active photographic communities in the area today; Founder of the Ivana Method, which is based on the teachings transmitted by Steve McCurry. Totally disrupts the old ways of teaching and produces formidable results, and in a short time, in thousands of students, even if they start from scratch; Winner of many awards and qualifications including the Nikon Award 2013 and QEP qualification - Qualified European Photographer for the portrait category; Publishes in magazines in Italy and abroad; in 2021 obtains cover image and article on the prestigious Master In Photography - Corriere della Sera; Author of numerous exhibitions and trusted photographer of clients of worldwide prestige. As a lecturer in photography she operates worldwide, in events from 15 to 1700 people, using her unique teaching method. In 2017 she created two masters in photography ANGELS POWER TRAINING® and TOP PHOTO ACADEMYTM. The former trains photography teachers allowing them to approach professional activity, the latter allows them to raise their photographic level to high levels and is also open to amateur photographers while being highly specialized. Ivana also presents herself to the national market as the first Italian photographer specializing in Marketing for Professional Photographers (back in 2008), as well as a multi-certified Business Coach.

Practical information

Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Admission is free of charge

India in Ivana Sunjic's shots on display at Turin's Albertina Art Gallery

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