Photographing My Own Curiosity
Through exploration and research of the iconography of the surroundings, Martino De Grandis focuses on testing the preconceived image of everyday elements by juxtaposing objects in his work. Creating the scene and controlling the space allows him to pose questions, provide a possibility for the unknown to emerge, and direct towards the possible resolution.
Curiosity to apply a change, bend time, drive Martino towards merging photography with other mediums such as painting and performance. The theme of control returns in various projects either through a meticulous approach to the scenery or, on the contrary, through providing control to the subject to take their own image under predefined conditions.
Martino De Grandis is an image maker from a small village in Valpolicella’s valley, Verona, currently working in Barcelona. Martino studied Photography at the The University of Arts of London for a year, later on, deciding to continue his education in Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam. Starting his way in cinematography, Martino took additional steps to develop his skills in the photographic sphere. As he describes this experience, “always wandering between the meticulous interest in detail and the cinematic interest in the mise-en-scene.“ In this interview, we dive into a detailed look into self-understanding and realization of one’s direction coming from higher education. We speak about his approach to materials while creating a narrative between a place and a subject. Martino introduces us to Six Legs Books, an independent publishing house, co-founded together with five emerging photography students.
‘My current photographic process is applying a variable to a constant.’
The Basics
Hi Martino, let's start with the basics. Where are you currently based? How would you compare it with the place you grew up in?
I am currently changing locations very often. I always ask myself how being based somewhere permanently would influence my practice. At the moment, I’m in Barcelona working for two months and later on I will be between Lausanne and Amsterdam. It's too many places to describe all the differences from my hometown, but in general, what I feel is different is people’s mindset and society's trust in the creative potential of younger generations.
How would you describe your genre of photography? Could you also name an emerging photographer you’d suggest following.
My current photographic process is applying a variable to a constant. Also, I am very interested in experimenting with opposites and materiality. Rather than mentioning another photographer to be added to an endless Instagram saved list, which will probably end up being forgotten (at least this is what I experience with mine), I would advise a book of photographers’ images called Frido Troost, An Educational Archive of 2863 Slides.
‘I saw art universities as a catalyser for both critical theory and technical knowledge. However, as I experienced firsthand, the structural freedom that some art schools give can represent a double-edged sword for young people who still have to discover themselves.
Academic Education
You studied Photography at the University of the Arts, London, and currently, you continue your education towards a B.A. degree at Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam. Why did you decide to pursue this profession?
Visual representation has genuinely interested me since an early age. I am not able to unfold the precise reason why I was intrigued by it, but I think it’s somehow connected to Susan Sontag's thought when she affirms that, "To take pictures is, simultaneously, to confer value and to render banal." After finishing high school, I worked for a while as a photographer and video maker on small projects, but then, when I had to choose how to start my career path properly, I was naturally drawn towards an academic experience because of my willingness to delve into history of photography and modern art.
How does academic education help in developing your vision and understanding the direction for your research?
Back then, I saw art universities as a catalyser for both critical theory and technical knowledge. However, as I experienced firsthand, the structural freedom that some art schools give can represent a double-edged sword for young people who still have to discover themselves. The margins of what good and bad teaching in the creative field is - is also very malleable, and it’s important to understand first what type of needs you are looking for in an academic experience. That said, the university has helped me a lot in critically understand what person I am, it has challenged me to deeply comprehend why I am considering something good or bad and it has nourished me through basically being able to fail within a controlled space while being surrounded by completely different points of view of teachers and students.
‘My modus operandi has become a sort of working against myself because the only way for me to discover something new is to work with what makes me uncomfortable.’
Time & Space
With your work, you often come back to the themes of time and space, questioning the essence of the object, their meaning, and interpretation, continuously changing one of the variables. What are the main questions you’re aiming to answer with your projects?
I’m not trying to answer, rather observe. In fact, my photographic practice developed as a transition from cinematography: the individual image became more relevant to me as a private means of examining my obsessions and sensibilities, always wandering between the meticulous interest in detail and the cinematic interest in the mise-en-scene. When speaking about the process, I am not interested in looking for a picture but more in creating one. In this sense, during this year, I worked a lot in terms of building a set that I can always control — a constant, and applying to it a variable, for example, unknown people. My modus operandi has become a sort of working against myself because the only way for me to discover something new is to work with what makes me uncomfortable.
‘I find it interesting when materials become a natural part of the image. I am not looking to emphasise the use of paint, rather establish a dialogue through it.’
All Over My SD & Untitled
Combining the medium of photography and painting is a theme you came back to recently, exploring the effect one has on the other, in the Untitled project on the topic of gesture of body and All Over My SD. What does paint allow you to emphasize or conceal when aligned with the process of photography?
For me, photography is interesting when it works outside its medium. However, all my experiments are always made from a photographer's point of view. I don’t have any experience in painting or drawing, and I have never used any other creative medium except for images and video. In the case of painting, I was interested in its materiality, observing how our experience with a selected material can change through its representation. All Over My SD has been my first ever project with paint and is manifested in a book form, in which the cover is the actual result of its material experimentation represented inside the book through photographic recordings. On the other hand, in my current ongoing project Untitled, I use paint more in connection with printed images to both conceal each subject's face and to emphasise body correlation with space geometries. I find it interesting when materials become a natural part of the image. I am not looking to emphasise the use of paint, rather establish a dialogue through it. It also forces me to work with printed images which is something I enjoy very much but, at the same time, I never experience it a lot in my short practice as a photographer.
The Drive
What is your main passion in photography or what drives you to continue working?
Photography, for me, is a discovery of myself. I am photographing my own curiosity, and it teaches me constantly. This never-ending learning curve about what stands in front of me and about the boundaries we set for ourselves is what drives me to continue exploring this medium. Photography does not live on its own, especially nowadays, everything passes through images and, whether you want it or not, it is an incredible aspect of this medium that allows you to always change the direction of the needle of your interest.
Upcoming Projects
What’s the next thing we’ll see from you? What is the stage this project is in today?
Together with five other inspiring photographers, we co-founded Six Legs Books, an independent publishing house on photography that will give birth to our first self-published books in September 2021 — therefore, save the date! Also, I am currently trying to develop a project about an incredible but sadly abandoned building from the ’70s in my hometown Verona, designed by the Italian architect Libero Cecchini. The aim is to raise awareness over this priceless heritage of architecture, and it is an occasion to experiment with conceiving 3D renders based on reality reconstructed as images.
