Works from the 2017 – 2018 educational photography project
Things are as they seem; at times, however, they reveal something more, depending on how you look at them and how you capture the gaze in an image.
In the history of art, fruits—pomegranate, apple, lemon—carry significant symbolic weight; they are not mere coincidences. They exist as natural objects and as storytellers of secrets.
I don’t perceive a substantial discontinuity between this tradition and the images created by the young people of Mantua who participated in the workshop. Their eyes and hands, originating from an only seemingly inexperienced perspective, offered a simplicity and naturalness that also embrace a relationship with mystery.
I wish to express my gratitude for the work done by these young participants, for the way they persuaded their grandparents and parents to cook and present family recipes that include yet also transcend stereotypical representations of the region. They were generous, showing us how food, the places of its production, and the fruits that represent it are living elements—part of an experience that can transform into image, form, aesthetics, narrative, and creativity.
That Palazzo Te itself serves as the grand tree on which these fruits have grown—a place of immense historical and artistic value, here transformed into a space of welcome and growth for the young participants—is, for me, an added reason for joy.
Melina Mulas