Liquid geographies

Critique sheet

In the panorama of contemporary research, photography has gradually ceased to be considered solely as a simple documentation tool, but has gradually taken on a conceptual, critical and reflective role. In this context, the black and white photographic inversion – used by the young photographer Fabiana Casu as the privileged medium of her research – is charged with profound meanings, becoming not only a visual manipulation of the image, but a tool with which to investigate reality and the world.

The tonal inversion of whites and blacks recalls the photographic negative of analogue photography, the medium from which the positive image is obtained. In contemporary art, however, this condition is no longer transitory but corresponds to the final state and the final image is inverted, suspended in another dimension, a trace that reveals the existence of an ambiguous territory and the viewer, disoriented, is forced to rethink what he recognises.

Through the technique of inverted black-and-white photography, Fabiana Casu also implements a personal process of deconstruction of reality, recognisable but altered: not a simple visual effect, but a conceptual gesture through which she forces the viewer to reconsider his trust in his own senses and to reflect on the nature of image, vision and truth.

In her shots, Fabiana Casu reveals the deep feeling that binds her to the nature of her land, a bond that becomes an integral part of her creative process. The island where she was born and lives inspires her works and the water that surrounds her fuels a continuous research into the multiple and variable forms of this precious element. The Sardinian landscape and water give rise to her liquid geographies where the two elements, land and water, merge and mingle, disrupting the classical paradigm of visual perception, revealing new entities, concealed details, volumes and transparencies, which escape ordinary vision and create a unique connection between visible and invisible reality.

The series of small diptychs, is a story in images of feelings, emotions and landscape shots that brings together shots taken on the north-eastern coast of Sardinia. The landscapes represented, although different, are united by the lines present in nature. The images, intentionally ‘burnt’ through overexposure and underexposure, emphasise the strong and powerful intensity of the sun in reshaping and reshaping the surroundings. The image of the world – overexposed and solarised – appears completely different from reality, amplifying and emphasising the power of the sun in shaping and modulating space.

It is clear, therefore, that for Fabiana Casu, inversion is not just a formal reversal but represents a critical act. Not a simple aesthetic effect, but rather a powerful conceptual strategy to rethink the relationship between image and meaning. An invitation to look at what lies beyond appearance, to recognise what we do not normally see as an integral part of the visible, to rethink the very act of seeing as an exercise in awareness. Entering the shadow zone of perception, the one Fabiana Casu fixes in her shots, allows us to give back to the image the right to be liquid, changeable and ambiguous.

Giannella Demuro

Biography

Fabiana Casu (Sassari, 1997) lives and works between Sardinia and the Peninsula. She prefers the medium of photography and focuses her artistic research on water. After graduating in Graphic Design at the Liceo Artistico in Olbia, she graduated in Painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Sassari and later obtained a Master’s degree in Editorial Photography at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome. He collaborated with the Photo Museum Ireland in Dublin, deepening curatorial and archival practices in photography. She has been exhibiting since 2014 in solo and group exhibitions. Among the main ones: Rome Art Week (2022); “My Favorite Things” TAG Tevere Art Gallery, Rome (2022); “Les Immatériels” La Mecerie, Arles – France (2022); “Contemporary Minds” Arsenale Foundation, Iseo (2019); “Atlas” MAS.EDU Museo di Arte Contemporanea, Sassari (2019); “Equal and different” Museo archeologico, Olbia (2015)

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