Italian artist Letizia Santoro is a self-taught photographer whose appetite for art and literature has always been with her, though photography became a part of her life only as she matured.
Experimenting with both digital and analog photography, Santoro’s work is the result of a perpetual state of research with a documentary undertone, aimed at revealing or highlighting the “nuances and meanings of existence and the human being.”
Demonstrating a dedicated loyalty to grain and monochrome, the photographer explores several techniques, such as double exposure and intentional camera movement, to capture raw emotions and the heavily charged vacuum of abandonment and solitude. Her work spans from portraiture and minimalistic landscapes to the grittiness of earthy elements, whether it is a rock in its natural habitat or in the form of a chiseled statue.
In this series, titled ‘Nothing under control,’ Santoro doubles down on the ideas of absence by completely removing the human element. Instead, she explores only what is left after their departure, merely hinting at their prior existence or actions. Captured on expired film, this analog series presents, in a purposefully chaotic manner, the influence of human presence on its surroundings, underlining the idea that once humanity is removed from the equation, the places they were once part of carry on without them.
“What good is a great depth of field if there is no adequate depth of feeling?” asks Santoro in her bio. Her photography is substantially existential. Every project is steeped in reflections on the passage of time, the fleetingness of the moment, the relativity of space, and the transience of human life. In the artist’s own words, she “doesn’t want to stop time. She’s going to let it slide. She wants the things she frames to flow like life and to stay exactly where they are: behind her, in a past to let go of.”
The art of letting go of the photographed moment reflects on the images in a perceptible aura of abandonment. The sort of absence that is not neglectful but peaceful. The grain of the photographs is as lulling as radio static, a hum of a space we pass through to reach the station. The gloomy ambience is not threatening, more like the presence of a ghost of a loved one—gone but not really, a somber yet comforting memory.
Santoro draws a parallel between photography and life itself. “It’s an endless cycle of change. It’s a journey towards a future that’s hard to define. It’s like taking a step into the past, but the past you’re stepping into is already gone, forgotten,” the artist adds.
Read our “Roots” issue in full
The new theme, born as usual from what the submitted works held in common, is “ROOTS.” Within its pages, we present the artworks, creativity, and inspiration of 60 visual artists and writers from 21 countries around the world. Their diverse voices come together around a shared exploration of the return to where one belongs, the invisible threads of tradition that shape identity, and the ongoing reconnection with nature, others, and oneself.
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.
