Francesco Bosso. Waterheaven

Waterheaven, a personal exhibition by Francesco Bosso (Barletta, 1959) (curated by Walter Guadagnini), will be featured in the Project Room of CAMERA and can be viewed from 18 April to 26 May 2019.

Bosso examines the natural landscape of his purest and wildest expressions, isolating shapes and elements to interpret uninhabited places and highlight the deep meaning of what connects man to his origins. 

A student of Kim Weston, grandson of the great master Edward, and of John Sexton and Alan Ross, assistants of Ansel Adams, for this project the photographer from Puglia presents an exhibit that comes from several collections taken over the past few years, mainly featuring seascapes. Water as a creative force is at the centre of the 20 photographs, which also feature a thorough printing process that intensifies the clean shades of white and the depth of the contrasts. “With its constant flowing”, says Bosso, “water represents the primordial liquid that creates, shapes and changes the world, in continuous and eternal transformative movement.” Waterheaven is a journey by images looking at the fascinating “creative force” of water, between vision and reality, a flow of evocations and fragments of memories.

Some examples of the tremendous ability of Bosso to use light and form to tell of a lyrical and harmonious reality, within a pictorial matrix, are the waterfall images shot in Iceland, included in the Golden Light (2012) collection, or the views from Last Diamonds (2015), a series of photographs taken in the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier, in the vicinity of the village of Ilulissat in Greenland. While in the first case the photographer enters into the space and allows the intimacy of the place to become visible through the photograph, in the second he “gathered intense emotions, the fluidity of such a natural landscape […] was shocking, in order to document its fragility and warn people about the harmful consequences of global warming”, Bosso explains. The images from Waterheaven are included in a single volume published by Silvana Editoriale, featuring a critique by Walter Guadagnini. The publication adds to the author’s already vast portfolio of editorial projects, which include: Last Diamonds (Skira, 2017), The Beauty Between Order And Disorder (Centro Culturale Candiani, 2015), Sassi e Calanchi (Castelvecchi, 2006), Swahili Ritratti Africani (Electa, 2003), and many others.

“Through the medium of photography”, explains Walter Guadagnini, “Bosso speaks of our responsibility towards protecting and saving the environment: with skilful use of white and black shades celebrates its subjects and at the same time warns the viewer about the fragility and uniqueness of this heritage. Phenomena such as massive urbanisation and increasing population density in cities are features of contemporary living, which rid our daily thoughts of natural landscapes. Bosso brings these back to the centre of our attention, documenting also the transformative and harmful effects of man’s carelessness with respect to nature.”

His works are found in major private and public collections, while his exhibitions have been on display at national and international institutions such as the Museo Pino Pascali (Polignano), the Centro Culturale Candiani (Venezia), the Museo Nazionale della Fotografia (Brescia) and the Cultural Centre Museum (Hong Kong).