End Frame: lo non ho mani che mi Accarezzino il Volto by Mario Giacomelli

Antonio Aleo

I am a passionate about landscape photography; I live in my birthplace, Calabria, a wonderful place with almost wild flavour, combining sea, mountains, lakes, waterfalls, forests and hilly landscapes. I find my greatest inspiration in photographing the heart of the forests of the great Calabrian parks, experiencing a huge sense of creative freedom.

antonioaleo.it

Mario Giacomelli is considered one of Italy's greatest photographers, as well as a figure who made the expression of inner feelings his focus.

Giacomelli is unable to define what photography is, nor explain why he practises it, but he feels the need to express himself through this medium in order to externalise his inner world. His images, so powerful, raw and “poetic”, force the observer to look at the world from a new perspective, to the extent that he considers the presence of the viewer essential to keeping his works alive, preserving that collective dream we call “reality”.

The subjects of his photographs are varied, from elderly people to stuffed animals, from landscapes to still lifes, showing how the inner world of human beings can be vaster than the universe in which we live. Giacomelli sees himself as a small man facing the greatness of the world, expressing the meaning of his life through what he loves most and which becomes his art, his only point of reference.

His images appear imperfect and grainy, but at the same time, they are surreal and melancholic. Through strong contrasts, the intentional movement of the camera, a depth of field extended to infinity, and a black and white that leaves no room for half-tones, he transforms his subjects into ghosts, statues and characters that we find in our dreams.