For this week’s Sunday Series we sat down with Giacomo Mantovani to discuss his commitment to authenticity, and why he chooses to destroy his own work to make it more precious.
Giacomo Mantovani is an award-winning filmmaker, photographer and creator. Adjacent to his career in the commercial field, Mantovani discussed with us his commitment to analogue photography.
When the world stopped in 2020, Mantovani felt a responsibility to document the moment in its purest form, we discussed how he chose medium-format analog photography for his Lockdown 20 project, and how his choice to leave imperfections with the prints are a symbolic proof of DNA, “pure, authentic, true, and untouched." - A single-edition print from this collection, LCKDN20 is now notably a part of The National Gallery’s permanent collection.
Mantovani’s current project, Peaceful Minds, began with a vision. "I wanted to represent the sense of peace and understanding between humans," he explains. The resulting images capture a profound stillness.
To achieve this, Mantovani uses a unique “splashing” technique during the printing process, introducing a sense of noise and chaos that contrasts with the serenity of the subjects.
We also spoke about how an important part of Mantovani’s ethos is how he strictly limits his editions. For Peaceful Minds, he narrowed 30 successful prints down to just 15, destroying the remaining copies to ensure each piece remains special and precious.
You can watch the full interview below.
