ARTIST REVIEW: FRANCESCA OCCHI

Francesca Occhi (1988) is a young italian photographer, graduated in Cultural Heritage Photography at ISIA in Urbino.

Her Master’s thesis, titled MEMENTO, that you can find in Rome at the lstituto Nazionale per la Grafica del Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo (Photographic section), is a photographic project about Second World War bunkers in the area of Ferrara, precisely from Lido Estensi to Mesola.

She is interested in documentary as well as in portrait photography. Elegance and clarity are just few words to describe her works. She has participated in relevant group exhibitions, like MIA fair in Milan, SI Fest in Savignano sul Rubicone, Bitume Photo fest in Lecce and Cantieri Sisf (Italian Society for Photographic Studies) in Ravenna. Her latest work has been realized during a workshop with Mustafa Sabbagh in collaboration with Maria Livia Brunelli’s MLB home gallery in Spazio Grisù, the first creative factory in Ferrara, Emilia Romagna.

Francesca presents this work to us:

“In this project I used photography as a medium of a personal research. I chose the diptych format: a portrait of a woman and her feelings. In the first duo the main theme is the obligation, emphasized by the mask on woman’s face and the crack on the wall. In this case imperfection (symbolized by the mask’s tear and the crack) isn’ t a mistake but becomes a way to escape or a new way to see things from another point of view. The crack on the wall demonstrates that something has happened here. Maybe a transformation.

Instead, the last duo represents the emancipation. The obligations are lost. The mask hung up. A new person is revealed to us” as Francesca said “New step, perhaps a new beginning” . Perhaps, we add , a new (R)evolution.