Photo © Dario-Jacopo Lagana
Conceptual - NOMINEE: Dario-Jacopo Lagana
Chunks of Soul
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Experimental portrait photography project
"Turning the crystal clear perfection of the matrix into a multi-layer imperfect portrait"
To examine one's identity, one must place personal image and public persona side by side. What often appears is a fragmented non-self. An imperfect portrait teetering between how we wish to portray ourselves and what we really are.
'Chunks of Soul' portrays this constant identity power struggle. A commentary on our imperfect images in the digital era.
The pictures are made through a box containing slides of broken glass - a material difficult to control. Reflections and refractions of multiple slivers bend worlds whilst shadows and light compete. The result is vanishing faces and intriguing juxtapositions.
In the age of the 'selfie,' one has the primal urge to control one's image. To create a persona that is accepted in society. When dealing with multiple reflections - multiple reflections place subjects in a position of vulnerability. The results are glimpses of uncontrolled identity.
All subjects in 'Chunks of Soul' have an unclear certainty of their soul or the public representation of them in society. With an out of focus identity, participants are still searching for their place in the world. Not comfortable with describing themselves as a unique, solid, single-word portraits, but rather, wondering, and exploring their personalities.
Despite the diverse backgrounds of the participants, those who are subjects in 'Chucks of soul' all have a certain identity discomfort in common. They are searching for their place in the world, not comfortable describing themselves as ‘unique,’ ‘solid’ or ‘special.’ In some cases, they have sought to protect themselves with tattoos, or masks - but they all acknowledge their imperfections and that the dreams of humans are fickle and changing. Other than colour correction, all pictures are digital, single shots with no further manipulation.
The project is the second part of the Entropic Series centered on the Emotional Entropy, grant will be used to cover the costs of the next step.
About author:
Dario-Jacopo Laganà (www.norte.it) is an Italian photographer living in Berlin for 6 years. After spending some years on travel photography (especially in Middle East) and photojournalism, he decided to inspect studio photography with experimental portraits projects - DEAF (taub-sordo) and Chunks of Soul - and to work on interior and architecture photography. From his personal interest in the Second World War and the Cold War, he started the blog Elephant in Berlin (www.elephantinberlin.com), to provide documentary evidence of the city and its changes, of the historical places, buildings and curiosities on Berlin and Brandenburg. The combination of photography and history has brought him to develop several projects and collaborations during the last years.
He has been co-author and project coordinator of “We Will Forget Soon”
(www.wewillforgetsoon.com), a documentary photographic research project on the
traces of the Soviet Army in the former East Germany, developed in 3 years travelling
about 8000 km, documented more than 300 locations with an archive with over
10,000 photos.
He has been teacher, art artist and coordinator for the Berlin workshop of the INSART
project (http://www.insart.eu), a social art project developed in 5 european
countries and funded with support from the European Commission.
"Turning the crystal clear perfection of the matrix into a multi-layer imperfect portrait"
To examine one's identity, one must place personal image and public persona side by side. What often appears is a fragmented non-self. An imperfect portrait teetering between how we wish to portray ourselves and what we really are.
'Chunks of Soul' portrays this constant identity power struggle. A commentary on our imperfect images in the digital era.
The pictures are made through a box containing slides of broken glass - a material difficult to control. Reflections and refractions of multiple slivers bend worlds whilst shadows and light compete. The result is vanishing faces and intriguing juxtapositions.
In the age of the 'selfie,' one has the primal urge to control one's image. To create a persona that is accepted in society. When dealing with multiple reflections - multiple reflections place subjects in a position of vulnerability. The results are glimpses of uncontrolled identity.
All subjects in 'Chunks of Soul' have an unclear certainty of their soul or the public representation of them in society. With an out of focus identity, participants are still searching for their place in the world. Not comfortable with describing themselves as a unique, solid, single-word portraits, but rather, wondering, and exploring their personalities.
Despite the diverse backgrounds of the participants, those who are subjects in 'Chucks of soul' all have a certain identity discomfort in common. They are searching for their place in the world, not comfortable describing themselves as ‘unique,’ ‘solid’ or ‘special.’ In some cases, they have sought to protect themselves with tattoos, or masks - but they all acknowledge their imperfections and that the dreams of humans are fickle and changing. Other than colour correction, all pictures are digital, single shots with no further manipulation.
The project is the second part of the Entropic Series centered on the Emotional Entropy, grant will be used to cover the costs of the next step.
About author:
Dario-Jacopo Laganà (www.norte.it) is an Italian photographer living in Berlin for 6 years. After spending some years on travel photography (especially in Middle East) and photojournalism, he decided to inspect studio photography with experimental portraits projects - DEAF (taub-sordo) and Chunks of Soul - and to work on interior and architecture photography. From his personal interest in the Second World War and the Cold War, he started the blog Elephant in Berlin (www.elephantinberlin.com), to provide documentary evidence of the city and its changes, of the historical places, buildings and curiosities on Berlin and Brandenburg. The combination of photography and history has brought him to develop several projects and collaborations during the last years.
He has been co-author and project coordinator of “We Will Forget Soon”
(www.wewillforgetsoon.com), a documentary photographic research project on the
traces of the Soviet Army in the former East Germany, developed in 3 years travelling
about 8000 km, documented more than 300 locations with an archive with over
10,000 photos.
He has been teacher, art artist and coordinator for the Berlin workshop of the INSART
project (http://www.insart.eu), a social art project developed in 5 european
countries and funded with support from the European Commission.