Interview: Gm Sacco
Luca Curci talks with Gm Sacco, during the 10th Edition of CONTEMPORARY VENICE 2022, at Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello.

“I have been a university professor of computer science for more than 30 years, till my interest in computers waned and I resigned to pursue my passion for photography. I have been a photographer for longer than I care to say, but more seriously and competently since the ’70s. In the past ten years, I have been given more than fifty awards in the most important international contests such as International Photo Awards (IPA), Fine Art Photography Awards, Prix de la Photograpie Paris (PX3), Monovisions, ND, Siena Creative, etc. I have exhibited my works in Turin, Milan, Rome, Trieste, Venice and Tokyo. As Walt Whitman wrote: “I am large. I contain multitudes”. And, in fact, many things capture my attention and my fancy: modern ruins (large factories, mainly), architecture, still life (natura morta), portraits, nudes, but the list is long. Regardless of these different facets, my main theme is death or, to put it less bluntly, the impermanence of human things. I find beauty and dignity in silent decay. At the same time, I am deeply interested in metaphysics. In this apparently aimless cycle of life and death, is there something that stays immutable? And, from another perspective, is there anything that can exorcise the horror of existence and death?”

Luca Curci – How did you get to photography? Do you remember why you took your first professional photo?
Gm Sacco – I have been photographing since I was eight. On film of course. which I used to develop and print by myself. So, I actually grew up with photography.
For me, a professional photo is a mature, interesting and well executed photo. From this point of view, my first professional work is probably the book “Le plaisir de mourir sans peine” which I produced in two hand-printed copies in 1975. This was one of the very first works to show abandoned buildings, mines and factories: a theme which has become very popular lately.

LC – According to you, what makes a good photo? Which details do you focus on?
GMS – I believe that any work of art is a combination of content/idea and form/technique. Technique without ideas is pointless, you can get by with ideas and a bad technique, but this is going to be unsatisfactory. So, a good photo needs to say something important and have a flawless technique: composition, lighting, crop.

LC – Where do you find your inspiration?
GMS – In myself, in the works I read, listened or saw: in life, for short.

LC – How do you feel when you see your work completed?
GMS – I am elated, but I am already thinking about the next one.

LC – How is being an artist nowadays?
GMS – There are pros and cons. On the pro side, the audience is really the whole world and internet provides an excellent way of dissemination. On the con side, everybody thinks they are artists, so that a lot of noise is produced, which makes finding good works pretty hard.

LC – Do you agree with our vision of art and what do you think about the theme of the exhibition?
GMS – I completely agree and I found the theme of the edxhibition very stimulating.

LC – In which way the artwork presented in our exhibition is connected with the exhibition’s theme?
GMS – The exhibition theme for my works was Mixing Identities, which focused on the perceptions of reality and how it is expressed and communicated inside a complicated universe. I exhibited six large Tarot cards, taken from my book “Tarot Major Arcana”, which won an award at IPA, International Photo Awards. Tarots are arguably among the most ancient devices to interpret reality.

LC – What do you think about ITSLIQUID Platform?
GMS – I think it’s a very good idea and a great platform.

LC – What do you think about the organization of our event?
GMS – I think the event was handled very professionally.