Image courtesy of Victoria Sgarro

Interview: Victoria Sgarro

Luca Curci talks with artist Victoria Sgarro during BODIES+CITIES SKIN exhibition in Venice on May 2016. Graduated in St. Louis at the Washington University with a degree in Comparative Literature and minors in Design and Chinese, Victoria Sgarro has recently finished her postgraduate studies at Studio Art Centers International in Florence. She believes in the resiliency of people in the face of struggle: immigrants in a new country, artists in a war zone, activists in a historically segregated city. She uses design, writing, photography and storytelling to share these stories with the world. By reframing and finding the beauty in their stories, she helps people to take control of their own happiness and their own narratives.

 

Image courtesy of Victoria Sgarro

 

Luca Curci – What is the message linked to the artwork you have shown in this exhibition? How is it connected to the theme of the entire festival?

Victoria Sgarro – Just as the festival deals with the theme of “borders”, the two photo works I have shown address the boundaries between individual and city. In both artworks, the central figure appears disconnected from his/her environment. There is a sense of disconnection: an invisible border that separates the subject from his/her surroundings. However, this isolation is not entirely negative. In both photos, the figures have seemingly paused in the ever-moving city to take in their surroundings. Perhaps it is this stillness that alienates them from the loud city – but it is also this quietness, this spectatorial quality, that allows them to find a bit of peace in the moments captured here in my photos.

L.C. – What are you currently working on?

V.S. – I’m currently working on a personal blog called Narrating Happiness to keep up with my writing and photography, and to explore the way in which art can influence positive change and personal growth. I also recently moved back to Arizona, and I am photographing the beauty I find in the desert here.

 

Image courtesy of Victoria Sgarro

 

L.C. – Are your artworks focused on a specific theme?

V.S. – I usually only find a theme in retrospect, when looking back on my artworks, but not while creating them. A photography professor recently told me that the theme behind my photography focuses on finding simplicity and pureness in an image – on finding what others have discarded and thrown away, and creating a new vision that demands to be observed once more.

L.C. – How is being an artist nowadays?

V.S. – I think “Artist” is defined more broadly nowadays then ever before, which makes being an artist both more difficult and easier in different ways. It is easier than ever to put your artwork where people are able to see it (on the web), but at the same time it’s more possible that your artwork can be lost or ignored on this platform.

L.C. – What is the most challenging part about creating your artworks?

V.S. – I think the most challenging part about photography is to always be taking pictures, even when you don’t feel like it. I think you can only take good pictures if you also take a lot of not-so-good ones.

 

Image courtesy of Victoria Sgarro

 

L.C. – What’s the art tip you usually receive? Do visitors’ suggestions enrich yourself and your art?

V.S. – An art tip I usually receive is to keep taking pictures. I definitely agree with this, because it helps me to see my environment from a new perspective, and to come up with new ways of photographing. Walking around with a camera often enhances my experience of a new place, but I try to remember that at the same time, always looking through the lens of a camera can keep you from actually experiencing life. Studies show that photographing an event can actually affect (and often impair) how you remember that event later. I always appreciate visitors’ suggestions, but I have learned that it is not possible to take everyone’s suggestion into consideration – an artist (and everyone) must learn to recognize which advice resonates with her own opinions. For me, developing a decisiveness and willingness to discard advice (while still maintaining a certain level of openness) is a skill that has improved my art.

L.C. – Do you think It’s LIQUID Group can represent an opportunity for artists? What do you think about our services?

V.S. – Yes, definitely. After my photos were accepted to be exhibited in It’s LIQUID’s Borders International Art and Architecture Festival, the group invited me to submit to It’s LIQUID Experimental Art Architecture and Design Festival. So I think it is a great opportunity to be part of their network, as they will keep you in mind for future shows.

 Image courtesy of Victoria Sgarro

 Image courtesy of It’s LIQUID Group. The artwork has been showed at Venice Art House Gallery for the event BODIES+CITIES SKIN, part of BORDERS festival.

 

more. victoriasgarro.com