Alessia Morellini

Modena, Italy

Please introduce yourself: What is your name, where are you from, what do you do?

Morellini, Alessia (born in 1985), I live and work in Modena, Italy. My life is animated by two passions: photography and travel. While attending university, I began as a self-taught photographer to capture the solitary and aseptic scenarios of the Po Valley, and then moved my research beyond the national borders. I work as freelance photographer in the commercial field, but my passion remains travel photography.

What is your relationship with photography and how did you get into it?

I'm a self-taugt photographer. I immediately gave up on the idea to enroll in Academy, but I decided to deepen the discipline by consulting essays and photographic books by various authors; first of all Luigi Ghirri.

What do you think triggers you to photograph in a certain moment? Is it planned or solely driven by intuition?

In my case it was a gradual discover through the old camera of my father (I know it's sound like a clichè), at the beginning it was a joke with him but, when I did my first travels and then saw the result of the films, it all changed and I started planning small projects instead of just taking random photos.

What is the story you want your pictures to tell?

I want to transport a sense of calmness and quietness into this frenetic and chaotic world; a small pause, a refresher for the eyes of the observers.

Which city would you like to visit the most, and why?

It's not a particular city, it's a macro area: the western part of America; with his desolated landscapes, the colour of the desert, it's magical atmosphere.

What is your personal relationship to cities and how do you perceive them as places in general?

They give me a real charge, I'm curious to discover every single corner of them, and I always plan journeys in cities different from each other for capturing all the shades.

What is the driving force behind creation?

The curiosity and the hunger of discovering new places, meet new sources of inspiration, learn new type of editing.

Which project did you never finish?

It's not a real incomplete project but, last year when I visited Jerusalem I decided—in some spiritual places like the Church of the Holy Sepulchre—to put away my camera; I didn't want to interfere with this particular magical moment for the faithful and didn't want to lose the power of those scenes I witnessed solely with my eyes.

What is that «one thing» you have never managed to photograph and is now gone for good?

During this last two years I became more confident and certain of my skills, I pushed away my shyness and made pictures of a various spectra of a person.

If you could travel back/forth in time, what advice would you give your younger/older self?

I would tell to myself to take my time and to not rush because quality is more important than quantity.

What do you prefer saying: «to take a photograph» or to «make a photograph», and why?

I prefer the term «make» because it suggests a sort of creation, an artefact which you created using your own skills.

What is the most interesting experience you have had while photographing?

During a journey through Istanbul I was making some photos in the old Souk while a small group of Chinese Tourists asked me if I was willing to pose as their model... well, maybe it is not that interesting of a situation but, it's a fun fact ☻︎

If it wasn’t for photography, what would you be interested in doing instead?

I want to work in a library ☻︎

How would you describe one of your pictures to a blind person?

I think that my pictures are like a caress on your face, a whispered kind word, or a walk on sand.

What are you currently working on, and—if there is—what is your next project or journey?

I am planning a journey through Morocco, I really miss the calmness of the desert as much as the chaos of the Medina.

Thank you, Alessia!

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Photography: Alessia Morellini (2020)
Location: Modena, Italy

Links: Website, Instagram

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Modena, Italy

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