Conversation with photographer Valentina Concordia interview by Santiago Neyra
‘The introspection that comes with coming of age feels particularly reminiscent of growing up to me’
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Its a pleasure to have a conversation with you and finally introduce you to all our readers, we feel very connected to your work and to inspire somebody elsewhere
Lets get into it, talk us a bit about who are you?
Hey! I’m a photographer, currently based in London but raised between the US and Italy.
What could you tell us about your childhood and if by this age you were already a curious girl into this fine art world?
Growing up we moved countries often, so a lot of my childhood was spent settling into new places and trying to fit into new surroundings. I feel very fortunate now to have had a really varied upbringing but at the time it mainly played out as shyness. I think I was probably quite introspective and just trying to figure out where I fit in especially from the age of 12 or so, so I think I probably spent a lot of time observing rather than participating.
I think that’s probably why I’m now particularly drawn to photographing adolescents like Holly -the introspection that comes with coming of age feels particularly reminiscent of growing up to me, and I find it really subtle yet fascinating.
As to my relationship with the art world growing up, there wasn’t a lot of emphases put on art in my home or school system. I was quite academic and ended up studying politics at university, so my interest in the arts definitely came later. But I do think growing up in Rome and being surrounded by an overwhelming amount of beauty probably helped develop and shape my reference points for colour and light.
We relate your beginning of “work” into a foodie life, what would you tell us about it?
Yes! I started my working life in kitchens, and thought I wanted to be a chef, but realised I wasn’t really cut out for it. I found kitchens and restaurants really immersive and I loved the process and rhythms of kitchens, but think I maybe realised I preferred the visual side of food. That led me to work for a food photographer in Copenhagen, and to then work in food photography for a few years before moving into more people-based photography.
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Taking a deep look into some of your selected work, what could you tell us about Martin Planchaud?
Martin is a friend and really talented chef I met when I was around 21 and working at Villa Lena, the artists residency in Tuscany. We hadn’t spoken in years when I saw he was the resident chef at Villa Medici, and as I was going to be home in Rome for a few weeks I asked if I could spend some time photographing him in his setting at Villa Medici - a space I was always mesmerised by growing up. I spent a couple of days following him around and watching him cook - it was the dream project, and although I’ve moved away slightly from photographing food - those couple of days reminded me how fun photographing food and cooking can be.
Marsha Chase and New York?
Marsha! That project is one of my favourites. My boyfriend and I met Marsha in Cadaques, my favourite a beach town in Spain. Marsha - a New Yorker that has been spending half the year in NY and the other half in Spain for the past 40 years - was doing a mix of dancing and Tai Chi by the beach, and I was so drawn to her. We then saw her at a dinner, and after speaking to her for the entire night we asked if we could make a short film about her. We filmed her at sunrise over the course of 3 days and recorded hours of conversation, but when we came back to London and got the film back from the lab, it was all blank. We were so devastated, and decided to go to New York to film her there. The final result is so different from the film we mentally made in Spain, but I think it conveys her wonderful perspective on life, love and friendship.
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How important in your life are sketchbooks?
I don’t work on my sketchbooks as much as I’d like to, but I find they help me a lot in the moments when work is quiet and in between shoots. So much of photography can actually be emailing and admin, and it can also be really solitary, so I find it’s really important to have something tactile to work on when I’m not shooting to get my out of my head and off my screens, and to push me to have a play with older work.
How would you describe your taste for your color palette?
I think printing my work in the darkroom over the past couple of years has shaped the colours and tones I’m drawn to and that are present in my work, but I think I’m definitely still developing my style. I’m most drawn to warmth and softness, and I love reds, oranges and blues - and I definitely push those in the darkroom when printing my work.
We are very interested in how you see the world, its objects and for sure the humans, we are gonna give you some words and you'll need to represent them with an image created by you:
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Eatable
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Intimate
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Loneliness
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Bold
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Fantasy
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Balanced
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Thanks for sharing with us this lovely story and for letting us know who you really are, your world is unique !