i take pictures, i get close to things to take pictures but never quite close enough, i touch stuff and test consistencies and textures, i look for gaps, i stand in the darkroom looking at red-lit images, watch them appear in the development liquid (it always looks to me like black magic no matter how long i’ve been doing this for), i write about photography, spending time getting intimate with pictures and reading books that refer me to more books and more books like a chain of close friends introducing me to their loved ones, i curate in the sense that i take care (of artworks and of their makers that trust me enough to share them with me) because otherwise why are we even working in the arts, its not like there’s much money in it, i lie on the sofa with my non-human companion and let her warm my hands in the winter, my human companion next to us letting her warm his feet, i teach so that i can create the space and time to be together and offer support and share resources, and sometimes i wonder if doing all these things — taking photographs and writing and curating and teaching — is too much but then i remember they are all an organic part of my practice and of my way of being with photography, which is another way to say being with others, and feel lucky for having a practice based on encounters, slowness, research and care.

i am co-founder and co-director of the no profit organization Ardesia Projects, dedicated to the research and dissemination of contemporary photography and visual culture, i am head archivist and project manager for the Daniele Tamagni Foundation, and run the accessible education programme Show & Tell in Milan with Elena Vaninetti. 

if you are looking for one2one support to develop your project, are interested in commissioning me a text, would like to have full access to one of my past essays, or just want to say Hello, you can contact me here —

benedettacasagrande@gmail.com

CV
IG