This blog is part of a series of exclusive interviews with the winners of United Photo Industries’ (UPI) pioneering Brooklyn-based public photography installation THE FENCE.
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Marco Castelli was born in 1991 and lives in Florence, Italy. After a three-year course in professional photography at Fondazione Studio Marangoni (Florence), he’s currently working with local magazines. Since 2013, he has been the assistant photographer to Alberto Conti (Contrasto Agency). At the same time, he’s continuing both personal and documentary projects and research, each one moving through his interest in the human environment.
His works have been published and displayed internationally.
Hi Marco. Tell us a little about you and your photography
I was born exactly 16 years after "One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest" appeared in cinemas. I'm 1.95m tall, with curly hair and a long, dark beard. Someone says it smells good. I just know in summer it becomes a little bit red.
I can only say my personal and documentary research has always been moving through a deep interest in the human environment and life, but don't know what to say about the results. I hope you enjoy it.
Talk to us about your series 'A Micro Odyssey' - Where and why did this project come about?
I love the mixing up of infinitely small and infinitely large: I mean, it’s fantastic to let microorganisms meet stars. Also, I love to travel, but space isn’t simple to reach, so I just try to imagine how can I solve this. Paradoxically, I want the smaller possible to “elevate” myself. The universe is everything, we’re already part of it and the same is for microorganisms, which are the origin of life.
'A Micro Odyssey' is where fiction runs into reality and the infinitely small faces the endless universe. This time I wanted to do something totally abstract and concrete together: I tried to put a scientific art (photography) in direct contact with a scientific subject (bacteria).
I think the principal aspect of this project is the ironic element: transforming something realistically identifiable in an abstract object which can again be referred to a visually recognizable world.
Why photography? What does the medium mean to you?
Among all mediums, I think photography is one of the most universal one. Also, I'm not the kind of person with big communication skills, as I'm impulsive.
Photography is an impact language: through pictures, you can speak to others more directly. It's a bridge between the world and the photographer, photographer and observer, world and observer. Basically, it's a beautiful kind of communication.
Do you have a photographic philosophy?
1. Buy less, look more, shoot better.
2. Dream, imagine, create.
Where in the world are you, what’s next for you?
I'm based in Florence, Italy. That's not a great place for young people and art. Right now, I'm quitting photography to explore new ideas generically related (but not only) to the visual world.
marco-castelli.com
You can find Marco on Facebook, here.
Find out more about 'A Micro Odyssey'.
