photography, photobook

Animabilia

Clelia developed Animabilia as a personal project leading production, creative direction, photography, and editing. The photography gained recognition and has gone on to be exhibited on several occasions as well as being developed as a book in 2024 with Giostre Edizioni. Exhibitors: Poison green, curated by Eva Comuzzi, Piazza San Marco Gallery, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice; Matter of lives, curated by Costanza Sartoris, Noemi Biasetton and Matteo Vianello, Associazione Metaforte, Venice; PEP New Talents, curated by Bénédicte Blondeau, 254Forest, Brussels

About the project:

The photographic research investigates the complexity of the human-animal relationship from an aesthetic perspective, questioning the purely visual aspect of the experience that involves us with the animal world. The feeling of wonder felt towards the beauty of animal forms is the thematic core of the project; the related processes implemented by humans to sublimate this fascination, the attempts of appropriation and the practices of objectification are some of the consequences involved in the relationship with animals.
Animabilia consists of images taken in different contexts, including natural history museums, zoos, reptilariums, aquariums, private collections, taxidermy studios, animal fairs and exotic species farms. From a perspective that looks at aesthetics, a portrait emerges of a humanity subjugated by the beauty of the natural world, concentrated in the attempt to capture its ephemeral beauty, through practices born in antiquity and today differently translated into the contemporary. With Animabilia, the intention is to bring out the aesthetic component and the relative practices that derive from it within the relationship with a different living being; through a rethinking of the animal dimension, it is then possible to discern a timeless view of the relationship and the exchanges that involve man and nature.