Thorns. A mouth biting into a dark, fleshy fruit. Woods cordoned off by tape. Slithers of golden light. Italian photographer Tomaso Clavarino’s images taken during his lockdown at his parents’ home in the hills of Lower Monferrato, Piedmont, capture the sensations of his day-to-day quarantine life: the pain of a recent loss, heightened senses, claustrophobia and glimpses of everyday beauty.
Situated in the second region for the number of Covid-related deaths in the country – just a few kilometers from some of the most affected areas of northern Italy – he shot this series as not only a personal exploration, but as a reflection of the tension that pervades our lives during this time.
Tomaso, can you tell us how this project came about? Where were the photos taken?
I was stuck in my parents’ house in the northern Italian countryside, in a small village called Cocconato d’Asti, in a house surrounded by woods and green fields. I was there with my partner who was (and still is as she will deliver in late September) pregnant in a particular moment of our life: the death of her young mother just a couple of days before the beginning of the lockdown. I thought this was the right time to reflect on my artistic practice and on my approach to photography.
What can you tell us about your experience photographing your home life during such an uncertain time? Is photographing at home something you’re used to, or was it a challenge to see your home environment in a new way?
I never felt comfortable working on [a project about] my personal life, but this was the right time to try to do it. So I decided to start walking in the woods with the camera, to understand my relation with a place where I grew up but from which I was missing for a long time, and slowly move from nature to those surrounding me, trying to build a narration of these strange times, full of tension, pain and in a certain way, hope.
How has the pandemic affected your daily life, work and state of mind?
The pandemic of course affected my work; many commissions were cancelled, a couple of projects delayed and a residency with a big museum in Milan postponed, however, despite the restrictions and the impossibility of seeing friends and moving around, I had more time to think and reflect on my 33 years of life thus far. I have to be honest and say that despite the difficulties, I’ve been privileged during this period, because I didn’t spend the lockdown in a 25-square-metre apartment, alone in the suburbs of a city. I was able to manage my work somehow. So, as usual, the crisis hit those that are less fortunate harder.
Would you say that photography has been a healing process throughout this period – and if so, why?
I wouldn’t say that photography has been a healing process; it has been a means that has helped me to reflect on certain issues in a very particular moment.
