Giorgina, unemployed, Syntagma Square, Athens, 2019. Europe is THE PEOPLE
And I ask myself: how does the expression of a face react to an unexpected question?
We always have everything planned, from when we wake up to when we close our eyes in the evening before going to sleep. We know exactly what we will do every day, who we will meet and what events we will face. All this gives us a sense of security and tries to remove the feeling of anxiety that new and unexpected situations cause us.
In a nutshell we organize and plan our lives at the table like real soldiers and the motivation do you know what it is? It’s because we have an incredible fear of what we don’t know, of the unexpected. Always too controlled, committed to leading our lives exactly as we had decided, we forget that beauty happens precisely in moments that no one can or will never be able to foresee.
Sometimes it all starts with a simple unexpected question that upsets your day. I’ve always liked to think that, just like those more spontaneous questions, which come out of the mouth without even having time to think about them, even the lens of photographers is a sort of question. And try to think of it, the most beautiful photographs are the spontaneous ones taken by taking us by surprise, just like when a question that we didn’t foresee catches us by surprise.
Michael, a Berliner, Berlin, 2019. Europe is IN DANGER
Lisa Borgiani’s research is precisely that of going to break even for a few seconds the routine and the programmed life of people by asking them a small question and impressing their faces in one click forever after they have heard it.
Imagine you are walking through the streets of your city, sitting at the bar having a coffee or hurrying to your office. At a certain point a person crosses your path, while you are intent on completing what you had made up your mind to do, this person stops you politely and asks you: What is Europe to you?
Here’s what the artist Lisa Borgiani did. With his camera he enters our lives by surprise and creates a real reportage of faces that inhabit the European capitals. We decided to interview Lisa and find out what pushed her to enter the life of Europeans with one simple question.
Artem, receptionist, Parco Nord, Milan, 2020. Europe is COMMUNICATION
Lisa Borgiani, photographer and artist with a fluid and open vision, what would it be if you had to find a word that identifies your creative work (provided that one word can contain an artistic work)?
Research.
Tell us a little about your life, your journey, in short, how did you come to understand what you wanted to be all your life?
I believe that the choice of being an artist or photographer is quite unconscious and casual initially (perhaps like many other professions). Then, when you realize that you can no longer help but observe and tell the things and people around you in the way you see them … it’s already late!
I started photographing when I was very young, I was particularly fond of reportage. My first real SLR, a Nikon FM2 was a dream for me. I followed several development and printing courses in the darkroom, I bought all the necessary equipment by spending many sleepless nights … Seeing slowly appear out of nowhere the image I had taken was the most beautiful thing, as well as that of experiencing the light and the masks in the dark room.
I always liked to try different techniques and a great lesson I received was to study the manual of my camera. Being able to control the vehicle and exploit its potential is a real advantage: once the use became natural I could thus concentrate on my subjects. I started photographing people, then architecture and myself: how many discoveries!
Over the years I have followed a more artistic path, first the collage, then the installations, trying to keep my gaze always exercised: my photographic tales (and sometimes videos) have never stopped: in Bosnia, in South America, in Israel, the United States, Europe …
Michael, a Berliner, Berlin, 2019. Europe is IN DANGER
Your website gives a lot of space to your installations, all of them, I seem to have noticed, have to do with the concept and the idea of networking. One of the first questions I would like to ask you right away is what are your networks and what do they represent?
As I mentioned before, my creative path has been very varied. Since 2015, in fact, I felt the need to bring the elements that I inserted in my collages imagined in three dimensions, always with light and flexible materials and therefore mobile in space. For two years I have experienced the fascinating world of the spiral building them in plastic material and creating different installations in the natural environments (Ponte di Veja in Verona, parks etc …), and in the architectural ones (industrial buildings, historical architecture, urban spaces. ..). With great pride since 2017, my mobile installation “Waves of light” consisting of 9 spirals up to 17 meters high, is permanently exhibited at the San Raffaele hospital in Milan.
Subsequently I began to experiment with a different material that would allow me to create the shape while maintaining transparency. And above all that it was light and flexible: the network allows me to build the shape in dialogue with the architectures through the use of tension points already present in the space. So I started my study and research path between mobile installation and architecture, in particular the rationalist ones (Villa Leoni, Casa A for artists by Pietro Lingeri). Together with the architect Alessandro Colombo, we presented the paper “The rational space of art. Pietro Lingeri and Lisa Borgiani’s installations” published in the magazine “The International Journal of Art and Art History ” which poses some reflections and studies on the use of my installations for a possible urban redevelopment and for the recovery of abandoned buildings. Here you can find this works.
What led you to create installations by collaborating with architects and researchers to undertake a photographic reportage focused on the theme of European sentiment?
For some time now I’ve been carrying out my two projects: that of installations is the world that I imagine, invent and build, the other, that of photography, is the world I meet and photograph on the street.
I think the thing that unites these two works is spontaneity: in fact the installations are made directly on site through a shape that continues to change because it is closely linked to the existing space, almost like an improvised performance (hence the title of the series of installations “The unexpected meets rationalism“).
Reportage is also a direct means of grasping people’s feelings in that unexpected moment. I have done several researches with Italian and American universities in the digital field and, especially at the moment, I find this type of collaboration interesting and the interaction between the human and digital world. It is important to keep a balance.
Alberto, retired, Monumental Cemetery, Milan, 2020. Europe is ABSOLUTE REALITY
What is the story you wanted to tell through the “What is Europe to you” photographs?
I felt the desire to photograph European citizens by creating a link and a dialogue between portrait and word through a single question.
Why start from Athens to start your trip to the European capitals?
Last year I accompanied the journalist Marta Ottaviani during her business trip to Athens on the occasion of the parliamentary elections. Hence the idea of photographing people on the street, asking everyone the same question: What is Europe to you? The two portraits that I take in sequence and in response to this question (together with the key word that summarizes their idea of Europe) are the result of this work.
The other cities were Berlin in the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the wall and Milan shortly before the lock-down Covid-19. The published volumes are available on the Whatseurope website. The next stops will be Rome, Brussels, London and Dublin, Paris, Vienna etc …
Maria, defenders of rights, Piazza Duomo, Milan, 2020. Europe is HOPE
What are your artistic references, inspirations that made you fall in love with photography and the world of art?
I love American photographers, nobody has told America as Robert Frank, William Eggleston, Lee Friedlander did. I have several Edwuard Steichen catalogs and have followed William Klein’s exhibitions across Europe. Their photographs are immortal, both for the beauty and uniqueness of the images but also for the themes they have addressed.
It’s nice to leaf through their books years later and always learn new things. The artists I have followed the most are Christian Boltansky, Anselm Kiefer, I also love the fantastic world of Calder. Other artistic references are some directors (for example the brilliant Wes Anderson), writers (Giorgio Scerbanenco, Etgar Keret, Eshkol Nevo …) but also musicians (depending on the moment) and architects (for example Moshe Safdie).
Gizela, itinerant, Mitte, Berlin, 2019. Europe is COMPANY
I’ve always wondered what drives a photographer to choose certain subjects over others, especially when he chooses to imprint forever on a photograph of faces.
I believe it is a mix of curiosity, intuition, looks and empathy. For me it is as if the subjects were calling me and I cannot avoid photographing them: I just try to capture those moments of strong intimacy that are created. And I ask myself: how does the expression of a face react to an unexpected question?
At this point I would like to ask you What is Europe to you?
For me, Europe is the faces of all the people I photograph, their feelings, the context in which they live and work. I’d like to represent all this.
Benjamin, web designer, Berlin, 2019. Europe is COMMUNITY
If you are a photography enthusiast and believe in their power, you cannot miss the article on How photography saves lives: Photographs for the Trussell Trust.
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