I always think about the Youtube and Guggenheim competition, especially the sentence in the video that said: “Maybe what’s in your head is the future”, that is my opinion about Nicole Marnati – a talented italian photographer based in Amsterdam.
She was very generous and open to answer my questions and I hope she’ll forgive my editing. I am sure we will more and more see her work in galleries and magazines – so keep an eye on her!
NICOLE, IF NOT A PHOTOGRAPHER WHAT WOULD YOU BE?
Nicole Marnati: I’s be a biotechnologist. I’ve always been fascinated by the interaction between machine and man – and from a formal standpoint, the camera – as an artificial mean – extends our visual ability.
WHAT IS PHOTOGRAPHY?
Nicole Marnati: I’d say it is a craft. Made up of daily practice, craftsmanship and a knowledge that you can only get with experience… I fell in love with this craft helping my father, a photographer, working with the optical bench: a lot of patience and technique. It became a sort of meditation, like exploring a new reality – that measured 10×12 cm – starting from a glass, hidden by a black cover, then the bellows – like a tunnel – down to the subject of the picture that you can hide or release…
PHOTOGRAPHERS YOU LIKE AND YOU DON’T LIKE:
Nicole Marnati: Honestly I think this world is full of talent and any representation deserves to be seen and listened.
Certainly Edward Burtynsk’s personality fascinates me . But also staged photography or tableau vivants by Gregory Crewdson and Jeff Wall. And then Francesco Jodice, Loretta Lux, Keith Loutit, Miina Savolainen, Massimo Vitali, Ole Dou,Marcel Christ, Denis Rouvre, Li Wei.
The ones I don’t like? Uhm… I’d say I don’t like the way images are used and the quality of the printing of some!
MOVIES AND VISUAL MEMORIES:
Nicole Marnati: Asian directors, movies like ” Srping, Summer, Autumn, Winter … Spring Again ” by Kim Ki-duk, Zhang Yimou, Chan-Wook Park , and others like “ The immaginarium of Doctor Parnassus ” by Terry Gilliam, ” Vodka Lemon ” by Hiner Saleem,” Blue Velvet ” by David Lynch,”Belle du jour ” by Luis Bunuel. But also Katsuhiro Otomo, Hayao Miyazaki, Vincent Paronnaud e Marjane Satrapi.
CHOOSE A PICTURE AND DESCRIBE IT IN 10 WORDS:
Nicole Marnati: If it was Irving Penn: tidy, dangerous, greedy, tridimensional, voluptuous, elegant, robust, bitter, sweet, vulnerable. If it was mine: close, far, relaxing-freshness, silent, air-windy, solitary, shy, dreaming, melancholy-memories, Leopardi – infinite… Am I exaggerating????
OTHER TECHNIQUES YOU’D LIKE TO MASTER
Nicole Marnati: A photographer often deals with video, a natural fil rouge from the still image to the moving image takes you there. Lately I am trying to understand this discipline, but what I’d really love to know is music – I think sound is quintessence.
YOU CAN PORTRAIT ANYONE:
Nicole Marnati: I’d portrait Julien Assange.
DO YOU FEEL EMBARASSED SHOWING YOUR WORK TO OTHER PEOPLE?
Nicole Marnati: At the beginning I was a little shy – now I’d just love to be able to showcase my work more often and get criticism, comments, feedback. Basically I’d love to create a dialogue.
Sometimes the risk is creating your own world and reality, before starting a project or a research I ask myself thousands of questions: why am I doing this? Will other people be interested in it? Is it banal and trite? But in the end you have to try!
Enjoy Nicole’s site: Nicole Marnati.
For the pictures, Nicole Marnati copyright unless where different specified on her website. While all the material belongs to © Dead Curious.com
