Biography

Donata Pizzi, an independent artist, uses photography as her primary medium of expression. After working in publishing and industry, she devoted herself to her own personal research, adopting a critical approach to the classic methods of photography and applying it to a whole range of subjects, from architecture to archaeology and, more recently, to social issues. Her interest in photography focuses on illustrating the content of a series of stories in an “abstract” image: in the case of her most recent project, ZERO INTOLERANCE, her photographs of very different, far-apart places have narrated the tragedy of the martyrs of the new millennium, from the Ground Zero to Anna Politkovskaya, via other less well-known stories, all of which have their focus on people. CITTÀ METAFISICHE, an austere, almost monotone documentation of Italian colonial architecture, primarily imagines the lives of those who lived in these humble, distant buildings for a brief, tragic moment, while in her images for ROMA IN AFRICA the fascinating, majestic archaeology of half-forgotten imperial cities is attenuated in order to reflect more closely on the ruins and rubble, and on our perceptions of the past in antiquated contexts. For Donata Pizzi, photography is always the final outcome of a long process of meditation, study and research into the essence of a concept and of her attempt to capture it in an image. Adopting the same perspective, IL FINE DEL MONDO, shown at the 54th Venice Biennale, makes reference to Courbet’s L’ORIGINE DU MONDE in a logical jump that reverses its meaning, while formally remaining within the classic canons of the nude.

Since 2014 she has built up a unique ongoing collection of Italian women photographers.