After being previewed at the latest edition of a ppr oc he, the Parisian salon dedicated to experimentation with the photographic image, Pietro Bologna's latest series, Elegía (Elegy), is being presented in Milan.
Elegía (Elegy, 2025) is Pietro Bologna's new series, which was previewed at a ppr oc he in Paris last November and is now being presented in the gallery alongside several gum prints from Mio malgrado (Despite Myself, 2018).
The inspiration for these series was a family trip to Sicily for the artist's parents' wedding anniversary, who invited their children and grandchildren to spend time with them for the occasion. While the camera captured private moments, it also allowed the author to turn his attention to Sicily's artistic, cultural and natural heritage.
The shots taken on the slopes of Mount Etna, of the Doric columns of the temple of Segesta and of Sicily's lush nature subsequently became an artistic work (Mio malgrado) printed using a technique popular in the United States in the 1960s called “gum print” (or lithography on paper).
The 2018 matrices, preserved by the artist after being used to create the gum prints, subsequently became an independent work: the Elegìa series, consisting of 24 unique large-format works, of which a selection of 5 is presented in the gallery.
The author scanned the analogue negatives and then used a laser plotter to print the subjects. The matrices are photocopies on plain paper that were brushed with shellac on the back to thicken the sheets before inking and brushing with gum arabic. Then, they were placed in the engraving press.
Pietro Bologna decided to backlight the matrices slightly so that the orange colour of the shellac would emerge, giving the matrix an amber hue. Furthermore, the backlighting draws greater attention to the fractures, cuts and holes that the paper has sustained during the printing process, seemingly to emphasise the resilience of both the material and living beings.
Pietro Bologna writes:
Merleau-Ponty teaches us that, in experience, it is not the visible, the touchable or the audible that is primary, but rather their otherness: the invisible, the untouchable and the inaudible. After all, photography has more to do with light than with representations, meanings and narratives. Perhaps we should learn to have no meaning. In the age of machine domination, I return to matter.
An artist's book in five copies accompanies the exhibition.
The prints on gummed paper were made by Daniela Lorenzi in collaboration with the artist at the A14 printing house.
