Talking with Fabio Moscatelli: Storytelling

Fabio Moscatelli

The first time I went with Fabio Moscatelli to photograph together was 2012. We went to the Metropoliz, an old abandoned building in the extreme eastern suburbs of Rome, where the Rom and South American families lived without electricity and running water. There we met Maryam and her family, of which I have already painfully spoken in a previous article.

We had both been photographing for some time, but we like to remember that year as our beginnings.

To go to those places you must not only have the same love for photography, but also a strong sense of harmony and common sensitivity.

Over the years our friendship has grown and it is not just a simple name of “brothers”; indeed, as we like to joke “starving brothers”, because we both know how hard it is to survive with this job.

 

If Stefano Mirabella, third element of our trio, is the King of the Street, Fabio is a Master in Storytelling. It's my honor to have all his photographic books with dedication, and to have shaped his projects over the years.

As he often repeats to me, he is tired of seeing my beautiful photos, he wants to see good photos.

And he has taken several good photos.

 

Get to know him.

 

From “BlinDream”, 2020

Dear Fabio, introduce yourself briefly to those who don't know you.

I am a freelance photographer; I mainly deal with social reportage going to find those stories often on the margins of our society. A few years ago during a presentation someone called me 'the photographer of the last', it's a definition that probably fits me perfectly and that I carry with honor and a touch of pride.

 

Can you tell us how you started photographing, how this passion was born and what you shoot with?

It was born very casually, probably like most of us; the photo on vacation, the souvenir and travel photos. Without taking anything away from the immense value of these, at a certain moment I realized that I could use photography to tell everything I saw in depth and so I started a didactic path that also led me to graduate from the Roman School of Photography.

I shoot with what I have in my hand when I need it, so also the smartphone. I have never given particular importance to the medium, I have been shooting with a fixed lens for years and I do not consider myself a 'mechanic' of photography. I prefer the mirrorless only for a matter of comfort, in recent years they have reached quality levels comparable to reflex cameras, but don't let me talk about brands.

 

Your plans are many, and it is perhaps impossible to choose one, but if you had to, which one are you most attached to?

Very difficult to answer, every project is a child so you cannot have a predilection. I can say that probably “The Last Exit”, the work on my father's memory, marked an important maturation of my path and perhaps traced a new path, but also the previous ones remain fundamental in my growth and evolution.

 

From “The Last Exit”, 2013

 

Certainly one of your favorite themes, the one that touches you deeper, is memory. Tell us about it...

Photography helps me a lot to face my demons and above all to relive a past made of tragedies and joys. Memory is necessary in order not to forget who I am, where I come from and above all what I lived. Many of my projects are tributes to memory, from “The Last Exit” already mentioned, to the last “Nostos” representation of a journey, of many journeys in fact, in which it's essential to look back in order to face tomorrow.

 

Reportage is a complicated photographic genre; it is made up not only of images but also of text. It can last a week or years: I can think of Mary Ellen Mark's “Tiny” or Marc Asnin's “Uncle Charlie”. How do you decide the duration of your work? How do you choose your stories?

In this sense I have changed a lot! At the beginning of my journey I wanted everything immediately, the story had to emerge immediately; today I need time, a lot of time, because each topic matures through a study that is often proportional to the duration. “Gioele” is a work in progress that has lasted for 6 years, but all my projects need a long time to come to an end. I am working on a project on blindness, which started recently, and I have the feeling that it will keep me busy for a few years.

 

From “Gioele”, 2014 \ 2020

I know you are an avid reader and you listen to a lot of music. What were the novels and records that influenced you most in your career as a photographer?

Common vices, my friend! The music and literature are continuous inspiration. Among the readings that I remember having marked me deeply on a photographic level is McCarthy's “The Road”; a phrase taken from the book is also the presentation of “The Last Exit”. But the list would be infinite, as well as the musical one; to stay up to date, the soundtrack of “Nostos” is certainly “Ghosteen” by Nick Cave who, with its melancholic and nostalgic melodic lines, fits perfectly with the photographic narration of my book. I was born with Heavy Metal, which I still love, but it seems to me a kind of music not so much 'photographic', unlike the Dark which reflects my photography very much.

 

Now some names of your favorite photographers and their works are a must. In your opinion, for those who love photography and storytelling, what are the "must-sees"?

I have a fondness for female photography, I have the impression that women have a higher gear. I love the Russian school, there are extraordinary works, and not just for an exotic question, I look for the content in the photos first of all. If I really had to name names, I would certainly mention Alisa Resnik, a great source of inspiration for me, and my teacher and photographer Massimo Mastrorillo who allowed me to develop a very personal photographic vision. The unmissable are all those projects that we don't know, which maybe don't have the limelight of the great photographic stages, but have a lot to say. There is an immense photographic undergrowth to discover and in this the network plays a really important role in allowing exploration that will reveal so much wonder.

 

From “Qui Vive Jeeg”, 2017\2020

 

What are the new projects you are working on and if you have photographic exhibitions coming up?

I am currently working on a project on blindness, which is not a random choice. I was raised by a blind grandfather, and here the subject linked to the memory and homage of this returns. At the same time I carry on the project on Gioele and the one perhaps most precious for the future, the one on my daughter Syria. I would have many exhibitions in mind, from the aforementioned “Nostos” to “Qui Vive Jeeg” an ambitious work to reverse the stereotypes linked to a complicated and complex neighborhood like Torbellamonaca. We will see what autumn has in store for us, but I am positive and confident.

 

To conclude, I ask you too, what is the advice you give to the beginner: why would someone hold the camera and go out to photograph?

Photography is a very powerful medium, a useful tool to discover, rediscover and deepen. Always have fun, do not think to consider it just a job, but above all try to excite yourself and stir emotion of other people, always!

 

Where can we see your photos?

This is the address of my site: Fabio Moscatelli 

Instagram: fabio74.moscatelli  

 

From “Nostos”, 2018

READ ALSO:

• The Story of Maryam 
• Archeology of A Passion 

Italian version