For many years my approach to images was extremely purist. I shot in analog, developed the photos in the darkroom and refused any kind of digital intervention in post-production. At that time I was fascinated by the possibility of playing with physical elements (light, perspectives, reflections) to create dreamlike images. Then, at a time when I didn’t have access to the darkroom, I found myself using digital programs for this purpose. It is therefore thanks to an obstacle that the experiments shown in this gallery were born. Basically, I use the images taken in analog, but to these I superimpose others. The black and white images I present here are inspired by the Tarot, their graphic elements and their foundations such as the repetition of symbols, progression, antithesis, dualism, complementarity. They are taken from my Italian language book I politici sono ovunque (2019) where the images relate to the narrative creating a parallel story, all visual. In the colour images I have mainly superimposed other photos, graphic interventions and collages. What combines the images I have created in the various creative periods is the affinity to the visions I have in my dreams.
Irene De Matteis has recently moved to Berlin where she works as a theatre pedagogist and performer, focusing her research on the connection between various disciplines. In addition to her early training as an acrobatic dancer, she later pursued the study of gestural theatre and specialized in Theatrical Pedagogy at “Laboratorio Nove” in Florence. Always in Florence she earned her degree in philosophy of language. She extends her research to symbolic language and is passionate about Tarot. With her academic work she expresses the need for a philosophy that acts as a mediator of dialogue, not neglecting to weave relationships beyond the academic, elitist or purely abstract circles. Hence the specialization in performance using art in unconventional spaces and environments (supermarkets, post offices, railway stations, clubs, the street). With Campi Magnetici, a new, independent publishing house from Livorno, she has just published “I Politici sono ovunque – Frammenti d’interferenze su mani birichine”, a book linked to the symbolism of tarot.
To see the preview of the work http://bit.ly/CMDeMatteis. She can be contacted a t http://irenedematteis.wixsite.com/creattiva e http://www.nottediqualita.it/portfolio_page/mediatori-artistici/
