Marinella Paderni, from:
LABORATORIO ITALIA Johan&Levi 2010
LABORATORIO ITALIA Johan&Levi 2010
"Martina della Valle’s photography revolves around the themes of time and memory, and their imponderable nature.
The opposing forces of oblivion-dissipation/eternity-immortality are brought together in works which see photography as a place for prolonging the lives of things, defying their transient existence.
The artist photographs minimum traces of life, signs of temporary, fleeting presences, marks made by a past which is still open, and which find continuity in their shadows, the repository of time in the space of photography. In this way della Valle points up the magical, imaginative quality of photography, and its ability to eternalise’ the moment, removing it from its contingent circumstances and creating an image that crystallises the paradox of time that never passes.
Her photographs, often in black and white, elicit expectations regarding something that belongs to the past – of which we are seeing an image – and its reflection into a possible future, as happens in the game of mirrors and reflections of her own image in the series Riflessi. This alternative time frame of reality also emerges in the work Urban Impression, composed of images of dilapidated houses and their walls, which bear visible traces of domestic interiors (wallpaper, plaster, …). By placing these two elements in relation to each other spatially, the artist forges a dialogue between the indexical character of photography and the “signs” of time."
The opposing forces of oblivion-dissipation/eternity-immortality are brought together in works which see photography as a place for prolonging the lives of things, defying their transient existence.
The artist photographs minimum traces of life, signs of temporary, fleeting presences, marks made by a past which is still open, and which find continuity in their shadows, the repository of time in the space of photography. In this way della Valle points up the magical, imaginative quality of photography, and its ability to eternalise’ the moment, removing it from its contingent circumstances and creating an image that crystallises the paradox of time that never passes.
Her photographs, often in black and white, elicit expectations regarding something that belongs to the past – of which we are seeing an image – and its reflection into a possible future, as happens in the game of mirrors and reflections of her own image in the series Riflessi. This alternative time frame of reality also emerges in the work Urban Impression, composed of images of dilapidated houses and their walls, which bear visible traces of domestic interiors (wallpaper, plaster, …). By placing these two elements in relation to each other spatially, the artist forges a dialogue between the indexical character of photography and the “signs” of time."
___________________________________________________
