Chiara Tancredi, born in 2002, approaches photography not as an outward form of expression but as an act of introspection. Her project Labyrinthine, to be presented at Liquida Photo Fest, is a visual narrative that urges viewers to reflect on the weight of memories, on remembrance itself, and on how childhood traumas work their way into images.
«Photography has been my way of understanding what I couldn’t express in words», the photographer tells us. Her work sprang from an intimate, visceral need to bring order to an emotional world that felt too complex to describe. The first shots emerged during her second academic year, when she realized the lens could become her language—the means that allowed her to confront a part of herself she had always avoided.
The photographs that make up Labyrinthine are not merely a reconstruction of memories; they are a genuine visual search for what had been silently held back. In the project, the author explores the maternal figure and her relationship with the body, seen as an obstacle—an unbearable weight. «I’m just dragging myself along», her mother would repeat, and those words left an indelible mark on the photographer’s growth. The camera thus becomes the tool to view that burden from a different distance, trying to give it shape, render it visible, and separate from it.
The black‑and‑white images are not just an aesthetic choice but a reflection of a dual reality the artist feels she inhabits: «White is what I show to no‑one; black is what I see and protect from the world», she explains. In Labyrinthine, these two dimensions meet, creating tension between what is hidden and what is revealed.
Each shot is a partial map of an experience once too hard to define but now, through photography, seeking form. The image of an abandoned house, of a mother sleeping to escape depression, or of an open mouth refusing antidepressants—each photo is a fragment of a story trying to surface from empty spaces, from places where emotion has never been fully expressed.
Labyrinthine is a journey into the depths of memory, a reflection on solitude, self‑discovery, and the difficulty of communicating one’s feelings. It is not only a private tale but an invitation to all of us to confront our past and the emotions we often keep hidden, as though they were too hard to face.
Presented at Liquida Photo Fest, this project is the result of a creative and physical process that required time, presence, and patience. Every shot bears the mark of long waiting—a slow gesture dense with meaning—that invites viewers to reflect, delve into memory, and perhaps find a connection to their own personal experiences. With Labyrinthine, the young photographer offers a raw and powerful vision of how images can serve as a bridge between past and present, between what has been and what we still struggle to articulate.
Chiara Tancredi’s works will be exhibited at the Liquida Photofestival in Turin from 7 to 11 May 2025.
