T4 ARTIST CASE STUDY: MARIO GIACOMELLI
- Apr 3
- 3 min read
Mario Giacomelli (b.1925 - 2000, Italy) recorded reality in a descriptive way. His images are immediately recognisable through their extreme contrast, heavy grain, and graphic abstraction. Fields become calligraphic marks, bodies dissolve into movement, and landscapes shift into almost painterly compositions.
His process was highly physical and experimental. In the darkroom, he pushed prints to extremes, burning, overexposing, and reworking surfaces until the image no longer felt stable. This method rejects precision and control in favour of intensity and expression. The photograph becomes less about what is seen and more about how it is felt.
Importantly, Giacomelli did not treat blur, grain, or distortion as technical flaws. These elements become essential visual strategies. They record not just the subject, but the act of seeing itself.
I have such a strong connection with Giacomelli. His work directly informs how I approach my own photography particularly in how I understand movement, instability, and the role of the photographic image.
What I take most from his practice is the idea that photography does not need to resolve. His images sit in a space where things are not fully clear, and that uncertainty becomes the meaning. This connects closely to my use of the concept of mu (無), where meaning is held open rather than fixed. Like Giacomelli, I am not trying to produce a clear or complete image. I am interested in what happens in the moment before clarity arrives, or just after it disappears.
His treatment of movement is also important. In my work, photographs are taken while walking, in the interval between steps. This creates blur, misalignment, and partial framing. Giacomelli's work validates this approach. He shows that these qualities are not mistakes but traces of the body moving through space. They carry the presence of time.
Giacomelli's darkroom manipulations parallel my use of cyanotype in this project. Both processes introduce a loss of control. In cyanotype, exposure time, UV light, and washing conditions affect the outcome. The image becomes something that emerges rather than something fully constructed. This aligns with Giacomelli's willingness to let the image shift beyond strict control.
His landscapes, particularly in Le mie Marche (1970-1990), also influence how I think about abstraction. From a distance, his images read as patterns or fields. Only when you look closer do they begin to suggest something recognisable. This is similar to my grid installation, where multiple images form an abstract surface, and meaning only starts to appear through proximity.
Most importantly, Giacomelli reinforces the idea that photography can operate as a record of perception rather than a record of reality. When I photograph, the camera is not just capturing what is in front of me. It is working with my body, my movement, and my shifting awareness, especially in relation to my changing physical and mental state.
Giacomelli’s work gives me permission to trust my instability. To allow images to remain unresolved. And to understand that what slips away can be just as important as what is seen.
References: Atlas Gallery n.d., Mario Giacomelli, website, viewed 4 April 2026, <https://www.atlasgallery.com/artists/mario-giacomelli>. (Figure 7)
Koch Gallery n.d., Mario Giacomelli, website, viewed 4 April 2026, <https://kochgallery.com/artists/mario-giacomelli>.
Mario Giacomelli n.d., Le mie Marche, Archivio Mario Giacomelli, viewed 4 April 2026, <https://www.archiviomariogiacomelli.it/en/le-mie-marche>. (Figures 1, 4-6)
Mario Giacomelli n.d., Archivio Mario Giacomelli, viewed 4 April 2026, <https://www.archiviomariogiacomelli.it/en/>. (Figures 8-12)
Mario Giacomelli n.d., L’opera, il metodo, la fotografia, la visione, Archivio Mario Giacomelli, viewed 4 April 2026, <https://www.archiviomariogiacomelli.it/en/lopera-ilmetodo-lafotografia-lavisione>.
Photographic Inspiration 2025, The Photographer Who Hated Reality | Mario Giacomelli's Black & White, online video, YouTube, viewed 4 April 2026, <https://youtu.be/CeEVhyjW8Ag?si=We-vrryxSG3Kr4El>. (Figure 3)
