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

María Cano, photographer (1993, Mallorca-Spain). Photography studies between 2013 and 2015 in “CEF – Centro de Estudios Fotográficos”, Palma de Mallorca. Freelance worker as architectural photographer, both interior and exterior, between 2015 and 2016. Currently working at Camper as a photographer for 6 years. Finalist at Palma Foto 2013. Third award at Foto Jove Palma 2013. Fifth award at Foto Jove Palma 2014. First award at Foto Jove Palma 2015Finalist at PhotoEspaña desde mi balcón 2020. One of the 29 winners of Eres Arte with my picture Crisálida 2020. Honorable mention at the Monovisions Photography Awards 2020 with “Reflections”. Honorable mention at the International Photography Awards 2020 with “Reflections”. Silver award at Lux Awards 2021 for Professional Photography in Spain with “Encontrar la forma”. My personal photography projects have always been focused on the human body, as it’s where I can best express my concerns, or I feel more capable to articulate the social criticism of what we face daily. In these I try to play with the geometry and shapes, not focusing only on the body itself, but using it as a space, seeking the abstraction from them, so it can transfer the viewer what I feel the very moment a project is born.

Luca Curci – When you take photos, are you usually inspired by the situation or do you find inspiration in yourself?
Maria Cano – I am always inspired by current situations, I usually make social critiques normally through bodies, their forms and abstraction.

LC – How important is the editing process in your work? How’s yours?
MC – Normally I try to shoot in analog, it seems to me a more precise way of working and with the necessary pause so that the projects are done as they really deserve, so the processing is minimal and when I try a work in digital format I also try to be quite faithful to reality, digital distortions I try to avoid.

LC – Where do you find your inspiration?
MC – I usually find inspiration in the day to day with current situations in society or with concerns that I have in my day to day with the experiences that are presented to me. Of course, a great pillar of inspiration is also seeing the work of photographers such as Robert Mapplethorpe, Henri Cartier-Bresson, María Espeus, Toni Catany, Isabel Muñoz, among many others.

LC – How do you feel when you see your work completed?
MC – When I see a finished project of mine, it is pure satisfaction for me. It makes me have the strength to want to create more, it’s a great stimulation. In each finished project I see how little by little there is more professional maturity and that always makes me feel proud and want to continue and contribute more.

LC – How is being an artist nowadays?
MC – Nowadays, being an artist means having to be in constant movement, investigate and grow, since social networks create a lot of professional competition and technology means that we always have to be in training so as not to become obsolete. On the other hand, not everything is bad and there is always the good part. Social networks give us a very good stimulus to be inspired by other emerging artists and to be able to show our work in a simpler and more effective way.

LC – Do you agree with our vision of art and what do you think about the theme of the exhibition?
MC – I find that it is a good way of carrying it out since we are now used to seeing works digitally and giving the opportunity to make exhibitions is enriching since space is shared with artists from all over the world and a good way of making us visible Tangible projects have much more strength, it is easier to transmit to the viewer.

LC – In which way the artwork presented in our exhibition is connected with the exhibition’s theme?
MC – The two photographs that I have exhibited have the body totally in the spotlight. Through form and abstraction and how it is related in space.

LC – Did you enjoy cooperating with us?
MC – It has been a great experience, the transparency with which you work, apart from the efficiency and good communication, makes one want to repeat it again.

LC – What do you think about ITSLIQUID Platform?
MC – Every opportunity for us artists to make ourselves known is always positive.

LC – What do you think about the organization of our event?
MC – The organization of the event has been very effective, providing facilities. I have missed being able to be present, hopefully, the next one can be at the opening.