Title: Private Rooms Author(s): Dario Argentini Pages: 129 Publisher: Publication date: Language: English, Italian, Fr Format: PDF ISBN-10: ISBN-13: Description: As for every man, my life is driven by an energy that follows
a straight line while is always looking beyond in order to
anticipate new targets. As I raced toward the future, I was
always fascinated by the feminine universe, by its circularity,
by its capability of simply being.
The woman is close to earth and to nature, she is aware of the
present moment and she has the capacity to live in this present
rather than in a projection toward a future that relentlessly
continues to be just that: these are elements that always made me
sense her superiority. The woman is the carrier of life; thanks
to her energy and intrinsic power, ancient civilizations always
considered her superior to man. The first spiritual and religious
acts raised her status to a divine level and for a long time art
glorified the power and sacredness of a womans body as well
as the feminine sexuality.
To display, paint or photograph the naked body of a woman is
often seen as something indecent in todays society. Morality and
the influences dictated by increasingly oppressive religions and
society rules have turned what used to be sacred into something
obscene.
Someone once asked Picasso where he drew the line between
sexuality and art. He replied: they are one single thing, they
are one and the same. Art can only be erotic.
In addition to being the source of artistic inspiration, the feminine
element is the only chance that man has to grow spiritually.
Thus, the eulogy of feminine beauty, as superficial as it may
seem, is part of my own desire to grow.
We never stop to try to understand why and how we got to where
we are. Publishing a book is a wonderful excuse to do just that.
I deliberately chose to write the name of each subject or subjects
portrayed as well as the place and the date on which I shot the
photographs at the beginning of each little story that makes
up the book. Our past is what we remember of it: Therefore, in
addition to providing a time frame for each picture, these dates
help me to recall a part of my personal story.
When we come into the world and during our childhood, we
are faced with unlimited possibilities. Then, as we grow into
adulthood, we are educated to become aware of our limits.
Creating something, be it through writing, painting, composing
music, directing a movie or taking a photograph, helps us
overcome these fake barriers. Said limits and barriers actually
do not exist, they are imposed upon us and more often than not,
they keep us imprisoned for all our life.
We are almost always actors playing out our life without
knowing how life really should be. We are given one page of
the screenplay at a time and we act it out as robots; however, we
can never see nor understand the significance of the whole story.
We hardly ever manage to write this screenplay ourselves, to
create our own role it is always imposed. Once in a while, we
may complete a project after working at it extensively and we
may get an illusive sensation that we have been, at least for a
while, the screenwriters of our own life.
This second book is the result of ten years of photographs, all
taken in the intimacy of closed rooms. Ancient villas, modern
apartments, numerous hotels, from the most elegant five-star
locations enriched with luxurious velvets and four-posted beds
to the most squalid hourly-rate motels furnished with plastic
chairs and worn-out wallpaper. Each room is the stage of an
open story with no beginning or end. To the contrary of a
movie, a photograph leaves total room for the imagination of
the viewer. Anyone can imagine what occurred prior to the
click and what will happen right after. Anyone can write his or
her own screenplay and dialogues and compose his or her own
soundtrack.
The women portrayed are of various nationalities and ages.
Some are professional models, others found themselves in front
of my lens only as part of a game. Some of them Ive only met
once others are dear friends of mine. No actresses, no top
models, no popular faces. I only wanted anonymous actresses
to interpret my fantasies. If I was the director of these images, I
could have not completed this project without the collaboration
and often improvisation of my actresses.
Once again, this project was born out of the love for women and
was completed only thanks to them. That is why I dedicate this
book to my beloved aunt Edy, who has always been a special
feminine point of reference for me, and along with her, to all
women. I dedicate it to the women who have posed for me, to
those who have loved me and who have stood by me on my path
to this date, to those I will meet in the future and to the one who
will manage to stand by my side forever.
Title: Private Rooms