Real Bodies and Imagined Bodies. Identity, belonging, the construction of meaning

The exhibition project curated by Daria Scolamacchia, professor of photography at the IED - European Institute of Design, inaugurates Campo Visivo, the space of the new Centro della Fotografia di Roma dedicated to contemporary languages, reflection on issues affecting our society, research and experimentation.

Through the works of Kensuke Koike, Alix Marie and Forough Alaei, the exhibition offers a reflection on the body as an unstable space, a place of experience, desire, discipline and transformation in constant dialectic between what we see, what we are and what we project. Despite the diversity of approach and intention with which they were created, the works presented share a common tension towards the contamination between practices and languages. In the series Today’s Curiosity by Japanese visual artist Kensuke Koike, photography transcends the limits of the traditional frame to take on new dimensions of exhibition, capable of disrupting established perspectives and opening up new modes of enjoyment. The works are the result of a process of recovery and reinterpretation of archival materials and vintage postcards and are often created within hours of the initial intuition, in order to preserve the original emotion without filters or superstructures.

French artist Alix Marie is represented by two works (courtesy of Ncontemporary): Maman, an installation featuring images of her mother’s bust printed on silky fabric and arranged along a circular metal structure measuring two meters in diameter and two and a half meters in height, and STRETCH, featuring images printed on Lycra fabric of her friend and model Nina Boukhrief, a performer, dancer and actress. Another section of the exhibition is dedicated to the work of Iranian painter and photojournalist Forough Alaei, who between 2019 and 2024 documented the lives of the fisherwomen of Hengam Island, known as “the daughters of the sea”. Through portraits at sea, during moments of preparation and while fishing, Alaei transforms the daily gestures of these women into vivid and colourful images of courage, resilience and tradition.

Header: Kensuke Koike, Vampire (2021). Series: “Today’s Curiosity” (2016-2024) © Kensuke Koike