The favoured topic of Marina Ballo’s photography is what
is “always seen,” the objects remaining at the threshold of
perception, the out of focus from which the “background
noise of our minds” transpires. In order for this dimension
to surface, you need to look at the world “out of the corner
of your eye,” incorporating distraction, quiescence and the
variety of day-to-day experience into your gaze.
Matching images and words has been the author’s
imperative necessity over the whole of her artistic path.
Long-distance exchanges with her favourite authors and
photographers (such as Gabriele Basilico and Lewis Baltz),
writing thoughts, compiling work journals, clarifying
theoretical roots and discovering inspirational affinities (for
example with Robert Adams, Raoul Hausmann, Timothy
O’Sullivan, Jeff Wall) reveal themselves to be integral parts
of her creative practice. Arranged both in a chronological
order and according to themes, the texts shed light on
the connection between her work with images and the
psychotherapeutic counselling, both deemed as processes
based on a “particular sort of relationship with the world
or with the landscape, one based on listening and on being
surprised by things that do not seem to have any particular
meaning.” This book is a meditation on photography as an
instrument of knowledge and as means of experience that
activates the subconscious.
This volume, edited by Stefano Chiodi, is complemented by
a conversation of the author with Jean-François Chevrier.
Marina Ballo Charmet lavora con la fotografia e il video. Da più di trent’anni opera come psicoterapeuta nei servizi territoriali pubblici di Milano. Ha esposto in numerosi musei e istituzioni in Italia e all’estero, tra cui il Musée Unterlinden a Colmar, il Museo del Novecento a Milano, il MACRO a Roma, la Triennale di Milano, il Fotomuseum a Winterthur, il Centre national de la photographie a Parigi e lo Storefront for Art and Architecture a New York. Ha partecipato alla XII Mostra Internazionale di Architettura di Venezia nel 2010 e alla XLVII Biennale d’Arte di Venezia nel 1997. Tra i suoi libri ricordiamo: Il parco/The Park (Charta, 2008), Marina Ballo Charmet. Fotografie e video 1993/2006 (Electa, 2007), Primo campo (Le Point du Jour, 2004), Rumore di fondo (Art&, 1998), Con la coda dell’occhio (Art&, 1995), L’incontro difficile (Emme, 1984).