Carte Blanche
Exhibition realized in partnership with the Council of Mallorca (Balearic Islands) - Department of Culture, Heritage and Linguistic Policy
Camilla de Maffei (Italy, 1981) holds a PhD in philosophy. She is now a freelance photographer and photography teacher.
Since 2009, she has focused her personal work on the Balkans, particularly in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Romania and Albania. In several of her long-term projects, her aim has been to look at these territories from an emotional, cultural and geopolitical perspective, to explore and relate the concepts of identity, memory and landscape.
She is also co-founder of El Observatorio, a space located in Barcelona that defines itself as a didactic laboratory specialised in photography and visual narration. Camilla de Maffei's work has been exhibited and awarded in several European countries and the United States.
The Delta series is the winner of the Premi Mallorca per la Fotografia Contemporanea 2021. The book Delta was published in 2022 by Anomalas (Barcelona).
DELTA
Swampy, rough, complex, gigantic. The Danube Delta is the largest river delta in Europe: a natural labyrinth of water and reeds that stretches over 3,500 km2 on the Black Sea coast between Romania and Ukraine.
The delta region is sparsely populated. The few villages in its territory are only accessible by boat, basic infrastructure is absent and the streets sink into deep darkness as soon as the sun sets.
Living in the delta means living forgotten, in the middle of the swamps. Those who can escape leave and never return. Those who remain live among abandoned houses.
Like minotaurs, the inhabitants of the delta live immersed in their own labyrinth, in symbiosis with the landscape and its changes. The circular rhythm of the seasons defines the rhythm of life, influences moods, conditions desires and habits, establishes physical and mental barriers.
This project is the story of my process of immersion in the delta and bears witness to my attempts to understand and document the deep connection between this land and its inhabitants. For four years I obsessively returned to observe the landscape and record the physical and psychological consequences of its slow mutation, in a register that intentionally fluctuates between anthropological observation and symbolic transfiguration.
Experiencing the delta to the point of perceiving it as a familiar space has oriented my research towards questioning the profound meaning of the act of inhabiting.
Inhabiting a territory, inhabiting a labyrinth. Inhabiting oneself.
