Perceiving nature physically. This is how one could translate the research of photographer Giulia Zinato, who with her project Imponderabile explores her relationship with Mother Nature. The project was born during her quarantine period when, forced to remain confined within the walls of her home, Giulia felt a strong need to connect in any way with the Earth and her energies. In her photographs that verge on the erotic, Giulia Zinato comes into direct contact with the organic in a kind of emotional and sensual dance. “I kept telling myself, – If I cannot move myself to reach you in your completeness, Nature, I will try to make minimal doses of you enough, I will try to catch you in the little things, celebrating you to the whole world.“
These doses of which Giulia Zinato speaks are clearly visible in her shots. The physical closeness that the photographer seeks is made explicit by direct contact with natural elements through her own body, sprinkling herself with honey for example, but also and especially through her mouth, evoking the sense of taste. Giulia Zinato’s intention is not erotic, but the symbiosis that is created between her body and nature (with flowers and fruit in particular) inevitably refers to a sensual encounter, with the aim of stimulating the viewer to a real natural contact, relegated to a primordial sphere. A necessary reunion with our Mother.
From a stylistic point of view, the natural light and bright colors contribute to a harmonious and positive encounter with nature. The photographer’s choice to place herself in the foreground, using her own body, undoubtedly hints at the current discourse of body positivity, which, implicitly, leads the viewer to reflection. Even the title of the project – Imponderabile – suggests something about her photographic approach. Imponderable is a term that refers to the unpredictability of nature, which Giulia chooses to embrace and follow. There is no forethought. Natural light is preferred to artificial light. Everything follows the rhythm of nature. The sensations Giulia absorbs from the organic elements are then related to her moods of the moment, generating encounters that are always in flux and have different emotional charges.
Courtesy Giulia Zinato
