A DAY LONG DREAM

VALERIA CAMMARERI

// Valeria is an Italian photographer based in Milano. Photography to her is a way of escaping reality. She likes being on the edge between reality and dream. The Pandemic gave her an opportunity to challenge herself with creative self-portraits. She calls this project a day-long dream.

While her roots are in Sicily, Valeria now lives in Milano, where she is a pediatrician. Her passion for photography was born in 2012 when she bought an iPhone and created an Instagram account. Since then she has taken workshops on photography and been using photography as a visual diary. She takes most of her photos in the street and her recurrent themes are women and dreamlike aspects of a layered reality. For Valeria, photography is a passion, fun, and fulfills a need for self-expression.

“art takes its cue from reality without ever representing it. nothing can be more creative than a human being.”

Valeria Cammareri

What draws you to the arts?

“Art is part of my way of looking at the world . World, reality and art are inseparable concepts.“

What do you like best about this photographic project?

“I like the dreamlike dimension of my work. It perfectly suits me.“

Valeria shared a set of her interesting conceptual self-portraits. She created these self-portraits at home in Milan between November 2020 and March 2021, when lockdowns due to the second wave of the pandemic made outings difficult. Days were marked by banal rituals where food worked as a reward. She put a humorous spin on her experiences using paper reproductions of ceramics by the artist Piero Fornasetti (1913-1988). Because of the restrictions on movement, Valeria´s perception of space and time changed. “My mind was saturated with news, talk shows and TV series. To overcome the monotony, I made the day a dream experience. In this way what were just days of endless waiting became joyful. I owe everything to the iconic series of ceramics inspired by the face of the opera singer Lina Cavalieri (1875-1944) defined as ‘the most beautiful woman in the world’.”

Valeria´s photo project also led to a collaboration with the pianist Renaud Moutier, who produced a beautiful video with music by Y. Tiersen played on the piano by Renaud Moutier to Valeria´s photos. By partnering with photographers, Renaud, thanks to his professional piano recordings, creates new artistic experiences. Do have a look!

Some images may be cropped for layout. Click on the photos to see a larger version.