The Garden's Tale

The Garden’s Tale by Alessandra Calò is a photographic series developed through still lifes made with objects taken from the domestic environment, alternating with images of gardens and vegetation, a dialogue between the world of nature and man.

The Garden’s Tale by Alessandra Calò is a photographic series developed through a series of still lifes made with objects taken from the domestic environment, alternating with images of gardens and vegetation, following the artist’s poetics, which has always sought a comparison and dialogue between the world of nature and the world built by humans.

Plants and vegetables, photographed at night, captured with a close-up, non-landscape framing, intertwined and devoid of openings, appear to us as hostile vegetal walls, but at the same time, they seem to invite us to make an effort: to express a clear will to go beyond what is visible, to seek a passage, and to identify internal paths capable of overcoming that fear inherent in darkness and the unknown.

The objects present in still lifes, on the other hand, tell us about a familiar reality, that of the home: common objects, domestic tools, and other plants, fruits, and flowers evoke ancient Flemish paintings, outside the real flow of time. They are depicted in a light barely sufficient for vision, emerging from backgrounds made neutral by the scarcity of light, and are presented in their fixity and stability. Therefore, even they, despite being 'familiar,' do not give us reassurance and refer us to the same difficulty that concerns wild night scenes. Through photography, which, as the word itself says, is writing through light, Alessandra Calò tells us a story of darkness, but not seen in a negative sense.

"Our culture has always pushed us to associate darkness with fear and the unknown, but in my opinion, it can also represent a necessary phase of life, linked to introspection and above all to transformation. In this project, therefore, man is encouraged towards resilience, that is, to adapt to symbolic darkness by transforming the negative experience into an opportunity for growth and inner change." AC