Massimiliano Maculan is a photographer and videographer living in the Netherlands. The artist’s cinematic catalogue brings together the blinding lights of street photography and high-contrast portraiture with the minimalism of black and white and matte monochrome visuals.
“Under My Skin” is a series that gives us a deeper look behind the curtain of commercial work the artist generally promotes, highlighting a more personal, intimate side. Or rather, a darker side.
The project featuring Mill Green as a model and edited and hand-drawn in Procreate by Maculan is an incursion into the subconscious, challenging ideas of mental health in the same way one would challenge a shotgun by looking down the barrel—through a disarming and unforgiving intention of putting self-harm on display in order to counterintuitively disarm it.
The project features an almost comic book-like presentation of somber themes, such as prescription drug abuse and the struggle with depression. There is a sense of desperate search for resolution and escape from the confinements of warped perception. Layers of drawings, reflections, and light indirectly refer to the layers of the skin—showing and hiding a person within.
Through this raw and gritty series, Maculan’s main idea is that once it’s on display, the Boogie Man loses its powers. A sort of exposure therapy through photography, if you will.
Read our “Focus” issue in full
Our August issue features 17 visual artists, photographers, and poets whose work taught us about relentlessness, resilience, and clarity. “Focus” became the chosen theme for this last month of summer.
We’re a team of writers using our craft to spotlight art in its most honest form. RAWGUE. started as a bi-monthly editorial experiment where each issue’s theme is dictated by the submitted work, thus removing editorial bias from the equation and preserving a more raw approach. We focus on all forms of poetry: written, photographed, painted, drawn, and filmed.
