Simone Sapienza
Charlie surfs on Lotus Flowers
Gomma Grant Best Rising Talent
Charlie surfs on Lotus Flowers by Simone Sapienza
Gomma Grant 2017 Best Rising Talent.
Fascinated by the contradictions of post-war Vietnam, a country somewhat in limbo between free-market capitalism and the strict rules of the Communist party, I embarked on a journey to reflect about "the society of spectacle" in Vietnam. In fact, populated by a young and energetic new generation, Vietnam is likely to become one of the world's fastest-growing economies. However, behind this illusive economic freedom, the Communist government still holds absolute political power.
The allusive and ambiguous series is a sequence of metaphorical responses to notions of power, economy, energy, exoticism and politics that characterise the current Vietnamese society.
My practice as documentary photographer is mainly based on deep research
about the social, economical and historical context of the project.
My latest
projects are mainly infuenced by the concept of simulacrum by Jean Baudrillard
and its role within documentary photography.
I do not look for descriptive and narrative pictures; I am interested instead in
multi-semantic, metaphorical, ambiguous, images that represent the project
without describing it. I am interested to understand how the borders of
documentary photography can be faded.
I am also interested in the role of history and how it changes over time, in the
infuence of mass-media and in the value of capitalism.
My practice aims to go beyond the specifc theme of the project, trying to enable
the viewer to connect my visual process with similar themes in diferent
contexts. That is about my idea about 'simulacrum' in documentary
photography: "Charlie surfs on Lotus Flowers" is not only about Vietnam itself,
but capitalism and power.
" S. Sapienza
Charlie surfs on Lotus Flowers. Vietnam.
Simone Sapienza.
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