Fotografie di Karmen Corak
Finissage: 17 February 2023 at 18.00
harpsichord gallery
Palazzo Borghese, Largo della Fontanella di Borghese 19, Rome
On 17 February 2023 at 18.00 there will be the finissage of the exhibition La vie en vert, a photographic project by Karmen Corak curated by Paola Stacchini Cavazza and Mario Peliti. The exhibition, promoted by the Galleria del Cembalo in Rome, presents over 40 unpublished photographs, which the public can admire in the fascinating frescoed rooms of Palazzo Borghese, the historic residence of the Borghese family, and considered one of the four wonders of Rome.
The exhibition has seen great success with the public and critics, attracting the interest of many visitors and professionals who have been able to admire Corak’s works in recent months. “We are faced with the exemplary shots of a photographer who has dedicated part of her work to rediscovering in something seemingly everyday – such as the botanical gardens that stand out in our cities, but also in green spaces – immersing herself in them and drawing shots that want on the one hand reopening the gates of memory, and our memories with them, but on the other going to release the imaginative force of Nature itself, and its ability to become human in its myriad of strangest forms” – Davide Emmanuele Iannace, article published in Just Kids Magazine.
Taken in botanical gardens in Italy, Slovenia, Germany, France, China and Japan, Karmen Corak’s photographs assign a cultural value to impermanence, to the fading of the landscape, reflecting on her poetic value. Thus the images suggest, even through the smallest details, the spirituality of her connection with the landscape and the depth of an inner relationship, based on the vibrant interaction between memory and the present.
The photographs on display bear witness to a revered nature, to a landscape contemplation that moves the observer to dialogue with them. The images are the result of an evolutionary process that starts from the love of gardens, combined with a deep interest in the traditional culture of the Far East. And it is from Japan, on the island of Shikoku, that the washi paper comes, ideal for printing these images.
As Corak herself declares in an interview by Federico Emmi published in Discorsi Fotografico “The subject of the exhibition can also be gathered in this quote ‘Full of merits, but poetically, man lives on this earth’ which is attributed to Hölderlin, which tells of how we should try to poetically inhabit here on earth, abandoning ourselves in places that somehow give us inner peace. For me photography is a bit above all here, in this context, which is linked to nature. It is making visible a breath of nature, something that is in tune, as happens with a person, when one feels at ease or not. There are reactions, energies that then lead us to be in a certain way. For me, walking in nature is something that in the East they call ‘the practice’, a ritual that repeats itself, a form of spiritual research, which is precisely linked to a certain type of practice, spending time in the botanical gardens and then photograph”.
Those who participate in the finissage will once again be able to admire the paintings by Canadian artist François Xavier Saint Pierre on display with The Spiders and the Bees. With this exhibition, Palazzo Borghese, the original location of the masterpieces currently on display in the Borghese Gallery, has returned to hosting pictorial works after centuries. Saint Pierre’s works are influenced by modernist painting and classical and romantic topoi. The title of the exhibition recalls Jonathan Swift’s satirical fable “The Bee and the Spider” – written in 1704 – which is situated in the broader context of the historical debate known as the querelle des Anciens et des Modernes (dispute of the Ancients and the Moderns ), initiated in France by a circle of French authors and artists at the court of Louis XIV.
The Ancients placed importance on the roots of Greco-Roman thought and art, while the Moderns believed that technology (the compass, letterpress and firearms) made them vastly superior. Swift likened the Ancients to bees, who drew wonders from flowers, and the Moderns to spiders, who made the new out of nothing. This painting serves as a reference for the artist in her exploration of past art forms, the notion of progress and what it means to be contemporary.
The event, which will be attended by the artist Karmen Corak, will be accompanied by the music of the violinist Ilaria Metta.
KARMEN CORAK
Karmen Corak, born in Slovenia, studied Graphic Arts in Croatia and Conservation and restoration of works of art on paper in Italy, Japan and Austria. You attend photography seminars with Rinko Kawauchi and Hans-Christian Schink. You live and work between Rome and Venice. She has worked at GNAM, at the Accademia in Venice and now at Chalcography in Rome as a restorer of paper / ancient prints. You participate in group exhibitions in China, Korea, Croatia, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Hungary and the USA; and with personal exhibitions at the various editions of the International Photography Festival in Rome. She receives international awards in Fine Art Photography in Paris, Malaga and Berlin.
GALLERY OF THE HARpsichord
The Galleria del Cembalo, a large exhibition space opened on the initiative of Paola Stacchini Cavazza inside Palazzo Borghese, in the ancient heart of Rome, between Piazza di Spagna and the Tiber, wants to give back to collectors and art lovers some of the rooms on the ground floor that Marcantonio IV Borghese had decorated at the end of the eighteenth century to house his collection of works of art.
The exhibition activity, directed in collaboration with Mario Peliti, has photography as its central element and its dialogue with other forms of artistic expression.
USEFUL INFORMATION
FINISSAGE SHOWS LA VIE EN VERT BY KARMEN KORAK
WHEN: 17 February 2023 at 18.00
WHERE: Galleria del Cembalo, Palazzo Borghese – Largo della Fontanella di Borghese 19, Rome
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