"...with about 100 small format photos and one large work, Paola Gaggiotti introduces us to the story of her life. After having encountered the only image present in the exhibition space, a sort of suspended curtain that poetically derails our expectations of what the main setting will be, we find ourselves plunged into a crowded gallery of characters. Their presence is underlined by terse captions, at times indicating their relation to the artist, or offering comments that lead the attention to details, or capture a mood with simplicity. Volare è piuttosto naturale (Flying is rather natural) is first of all an autobiographical journey where nothing is missing: in the key moments of the life of the artist – who outlines a picture of herself and the environment in which she grew up, as a perfect expression of the middle class – there was always, especially in the early years, someone who didn’t miss the opportunity to block time and the intensity of the moment with the kind of attention described by Calvino. The photos show us passages of childhood, vacations, games, family affections, and then, through the years, the first communion, confirmation, friends, travels, the boyfriend who becomes a husband, all the way to the recent birth of a daughter who, naturally, is the favorite subject of the more recent photos. The decor of the interiors, the public contexts, the clothing, the presence of certain details, interweave personal history with the habits and customs of the period. The order is not chronological, but the frequent presence of the protagonist allows us to roughly reconstruct the timeframe. Paola Gaggiotti presents here story by borrowing the narrative modes of the family album. So it is no coincidence that the images seem natural when arranged in the space of the home...''

 

Una mappa grande quanto il mondo by Emanuela De Cecco