Again on Flowers

Marzia Gamba. Copyright: © 2020 Marzia Gamba

Recently I happened to see the work of a talented Italian photographer who has lived in New York for a long time: Marzia Gamba, born in 1987.

Passionate about analogue photography, art and colors, she specialized in Still Life, drawing inspiration from Magritte, Frida Kahlo, Cindy Sherman, Luigi Ghirri and other painters and photographers.

“I would say that my creative process is a bit like me, reflective and impulsive at the same time. It all starts with an idea and from there I work on creative development in which I make hand sketches, decide on the color palette and create a mood board with reference images.

When I dedicate myself to taking a photo, one of the first things I think about is the colors and emotions associated with them.

Aesthetics are very important to me. Creating harmony between the objects and the colors I use is fundamental, in my creative process I always look for beauty even in common objects, to make the viewer feel a new emotion by looking at something familiar, to play with perception of lights and shadows, is for me an important part in creating a photograph.”

So explains Marzia, interviewed by the magazine Collater.al.

Marzia Gamba. Copyright: © 2020 Marzia Gamba

Still Life is not my area and it's very difficult, I intend to be creative by photographing a few objects in neutral environments.

Certainly an artistic and pictorial background helps a lot.

 

Apart from my favorite subjects, I also love photographing flowers, and I have already written about it in this blog.

 

I am fascinated by trying to photograph flowers as if they were portraits, human beings.

They arouse emotions in me, perhaps because of their colors. The shapes, the scent. They are synesthetic, they cover our every sensation.

And they are deeply poetic.

“Just born

not yet a rose
already superb to obscure the sun.
'Who are you? Who dares?'
howls the star at sunset.
'I'm just a bud, little thing'
She answers with a faint voice
red with shame.
'It's not vanity but destiny,
you are now decades and I live
of your light.'"

“How Ofelia rest
on the carpet of drops
maybe dead maybe sleep,
no one knows in your closed petals.
You walk away like a dream
bewitching those who look at you with beauty
not only rose but swan on the edge,
you carry our every pain with you
as a pledge.” 

“Reached for the light
with each part
of you – prayer and aspiration,
your thirst becomes art.”

“Nobody ever told you
that you are a flower and not a swan
yet in your last breath
your heart seems different.”

“If even your name was diverse...
but that doesn't matter
rose you are and always will be
diamond of the universe.” 

“Like us, lonely souls
you have learned to pretend and lie,
saying it's rain
you hint a smile and cry.” 

“You are pure essence, 
blade and wound,
emptiness and form, 
in you summed up all life.” 

This is the bond with flowers, a silent conversation between me and them.
Perhaps, once again, a way to balance the demons and the asperities of the soul.
Turn a flower into its black and white double and you will see the abyss. 

READ ALSO:

• Orchids and Butterflies 
• Hibiscus, or of Beauty 

All poems were composed on 4-5 November 2020

Website of Marzia Gamba: MARZIA GAMBA Still Life, Food and Product Photographer

Interview with Marzia Gamba: Marzia Gamba’s shots, an explosion of colors and flowers 

Italian version