53. FRANCESCA BATTAGLIA: A SPACE BETWEEN STILLNESS AND MOVEMENT.

Francesca Battaglia, London 2019.

I remember meeting you in tutorials, in those beautiful big rooms in Lime Grove, and filling my eyes with your pictures. There was always this sense of movement and the perfumed warmth of an Italy remembered - as if from a film - where characters were dressed immaculately and high drama was ushered into frame. Your image within the new issue of M-A - I feel is a very concentrated image of you, can you discuss this work and where you were within yourself when it was made?

At the time I was working on my final major project. The core of the project was the fear of forgetting, of losing memory. I wanted to focus on my roots, on my family, to be able to put together an experience and a body of work that could reassemble a story that would become timeless. I was getting a bit stuck in the process, trying to chase something deep and real that could tell a sincere personal story. I was obsessed with taking pictures of places and things. I guess my aim was to explore how to tell a story of people by taking pictures of still objects and places. That’s when this image was made. I was taking some test shots in my flat in West London in the spring. I was focusing on the still life working with objects that I could find around in the flat. My room faced a small courtyard down a basement, there was this beautiful flowery plant that had dropped and scattered all the flowers around creating a flowery carpet just right outside my glassdoor. I had found a blue plastic bag that had fallen down from the street so I took it and filled it up with all the flowers almost all already dried.

I think I realized it maybe a bit later, after leaving London, growing up, that during that period of my life I was going through a hard time with my mental health and that those images of dried flowers and pomegranates pictured also where I was within myself in that period.

The painterly palettes you return to, why are you drawn to that particular range?

I guess what I like is softness, something that is gentle and tender. I guess it’s also the palette of the places I know. Where I grew up, in the north east of Italy, near lakes and mountains where everything is slow paced and silent, the light grey of the stone of houses, the brown of the wooden roofs, the green of hills and fields. Another place I feel at home is Ibiza, the incredible colors of the island’s nature overwhelm me every summer since I was born: the red of the sun, soil and rocks, matched with the colors of pinewoods and the deep blue of the sea.
The memory of these places blended together creates my palette. And now that my work concentrates also more on portraits and sometimes capturing someone really close, I find that in the nuances of people’s skin, eyes and hair.

There is a particular melancholy that feels like a dapple of memories within your work - which I am drawn to. There is a tension there and a sense of the unresolved, which feels very poised, can you reflect upon why you depict this state and what are the questions which thread through the work?

I love how you worded it, I relate a lot to this description.
Whenever I think about a project I want it to be real, to be reasoned and sincere. I want to capture the truthfulness of the subject: an honest look, a natural slouch posture, a gesture, a crease on the fabric of what they’re wearing. I’m not into perfection and constructions.

As I mentioned in a previous answer, I’m scared of losing memory, and this definitely reflected on my urge to take pictures and make videos, which luckily growing up became my job. There is definitely melancholy, especially in my past work and I acknowledge it today in my current projects. This unfolds also when thinking about moving image. The sense of the unresolved you talk about could definitely be the thread in my film language. I’m fascinated by movement but also by stillness, on how dynamic and powerful a still frame can be. That’s why I’m probably so drawn to film, I feel so absorbed by the freedom of it and the variety of ways I can choose to tell a story. It’s not easy to describe it in words, I’m just really really passionate and I’m sure it’s the medium I’m actually more naturally prone to to express myself.

Francesca Battaglia, Piedmont, March 2021.

Your Italian-ness is again, specific to you and I greatly appreciate that in your work. There is often a tension between fashion and art, do you feel this and if so why?

Italy has of course a huge historic cultural and artistic heritage and in every part of it you can find unique breathtaking places filled with history. Sometimes it feels like the time has stopped in some places. The fact that you can feel, smell and touch something so fascinating that’s been there for centuries, it’s inspiring. This belonging is for sure very present in my work. Fashion is a big part of Italian culture as well as art. It fascinates me, I am passionate about it. I think that my way to communicate, my way to tell stories and take pictures is more focused on the subject in front of the camera, that fashion becomes almost impalpabile in my work. It isn’t explicit nor literal, it’s not the main focus, it’s part of the subject, it needs to be merged with it and tell something about it. I feel like a need to find a story in every picture I take, and clothes definitely tell stories.

You studied in London at a fascinating moment of national change, and I remember the characters within your community - together this seemed to simultaneously provoke and support your artistic development. There is often a criticism that the space between education and life after education is widening, do you feel this and if so what do you feel should change?

Yes, it definitely influenced my artistic development. I often think though that my experience was strongly affected by the rush to start so soon. There was this urgency to start university right after high school, like you shouldn’t waste a second between each step of education otherwise you could lose interest in studying, lose the moment. At least that is very common in Italian conception on education timings.

When I was 19 I remember having this feeling that I couldn’t miss the moment. I had to know exactly what my future would be, and choose right away my path. Moving to a new country in a big city, to a world so different from the small province town where I grew up, it was definitely a big step. I think it’s really important to take the chance if you have the opportunity, while you’re still fresh and eager to learn and discover, when you’re finally free to choose your way. But I also think it should happen when you really feel ready for it and when you’re more self-conscious. I think this brought in a lot of insecurities in my experience and made it more difficult to go through. While in education you can feel like you have to perform and do well and this can compromise your mental health.

This can happen also after graduating university. That space between education and landing into life and starting a career, it can be scary. When you’re a student you feel kind of in a safe zone. After education, that fades away and you’re on your own. It’s not easy to find a way to earn money doing what you love or what you studied for especially if you have to support yourself in an expensive city.

What I’ve learned after finishing my studies and growing up is that if you have passion, it’s never too late to change direction and explore something new. So there shouldn’t be pressure in choosing a path when you’re approaching education and there shouldn’t be pressure while experiencing it. Every imperfect experience builds you up as a person, but you should feel more relaxed and free regarding what you want to choose for yourself and for your future.

The personification of space is very present within your work - I remember from the early works I saw that you made, to the recent images, why do you feel you are drawn to these spaces?

I think I am drawn to spaces where I get curious, where I can imagine a narrative. I’m also really fascinated by architecture, how a space is designed and its history. I try to imagine what stories a place holds. Sometimes I wish I could see what happened there in the past, through the years, imagining stories of people. It really fascinates me. And I’m always attracted to details that sometimes aren’t noticed.

I attribute a special meaning to some places, and I want to keep them impressed in my memory, sometimes there are places I just pass by and I know I won’t visit again, sometimes they are very familiar in my present but I know someday I won’t see anymore. 

For this reason, I use photography in a kind of obsessive way, always taking pictures on my phone when a detail captures my gaze.

Francesca Battaglia, Lombardy, Summer 2018.

Francesca Battaglia is a contributing artist to issue 3 of M-A (A SPACE BETWEEN).