Martin Bogren — Italia

Le Plac’art Photo
12, rue de l’éperon, 75006, Paris (FRANCE)

From November 3 to 19, 2017

“Italia” took a start during a residency at the Scandinavian Culture House in Rome and begun as a journey and a portray of a country and its people, but soon reshaped to a narrative about a state of mind and a self-portrait. It was a time of break-up, changes and a search for something new. Parallel with a geographical journey through the country, there was an intense ride going on within myself, and most of all I wanted to think, walk and contemplate.

But Italy immediately showed me a life lust and a temperament that I`d been starving for during last winter’s northbound journeys, and a different tempo and energy called out for me and a reflective, impulsive and emotionally driven photography opened up. The first day I took more than twenty rolls of film. Intense, passionate and with a lust I had not felt for a very long time. I found a vibrant life with an energy that gave meaning and nourishment. I was seduced!

And I photographed; an Italy that I do not claim is a true depiction, or even fair, but simply an Italy that somehow concludes from my thoughts, my memories and my dreams. I believe that we constantly and continuously reflect ourselves in others; in faces, moods, in the light and in the landscapes we pass through. Our lives is a very individual experience. The ones we meet are nothing and no more than mirrors of ourselves and every photograph that we take is not only a picture of the world, but above all a portray of ourselves.” – Martin Bogren