Land of Enchantment

"Twelve years ago Giulia Agostini shared on a social network an image of a witch flying on a broomstick with the subtitle: "Into a land of enchantment." The image is a frame from an old movie from the 1980s whose title Giulia does not remember, but she perfectly remembers what a user wrote in the comments section of that photo: "finally an image that suits you." That user was right, because Giulia, ever since she found the key to the kingdom of Oz in her grandmother's chicken coop (it really happened, ask her mom if you don't believe it) has always lived in an enchanted land, or so people who (don't) know her well say. She was ten years old when she found the key to Oz, shortly after seeing "Return to Oz," a film whose title she remembers well and which marked her forever. Controversial film, magical and dark, today considered a cult. Is it enough to find a magical key in the real world to live in a "land of enchantment"? Perhaps yes, no doubt it was enough to choose the title of Giulia Agostini's solo exhibition at Podbielski Contemporary in Milan "Land of Enchantment."

Giving titles to photos and framing one's work in a priori researched thematic paths has never been fundamental for Giulia Agostini. In this regard, she was struck by a Tom Sandberg exhibition she saw in Modena in 2016, in which the artist's works were intentionally set up in a disorganized manner and without captions, according to Sandberg's indication before his death. Another great inspiration for Giulia Agostini is photographer Daidō Moriyama, who in an interview in 2021 expressed a concept dear to Giulia: "I don't do any research on a theme before I shoot at all, If i suddenly want to photograph Hokkaido, I go to Hokkaido. [...] I don't do anything based on a theme [ I understand it but you have to stop questioning, but when I want to shoot, I shoot. You have to have desire to shoot streets, shoot people, shoot landscape. You have to stop questioning, you have to have desire." Overall, her research is an investigation of women's bodies, their freedom of expression and representation as opposed to social conditioning. This research of hers is often inserted, broken down and reassembled in a flow of images that Agostini collects in the ordinary and the extraordinary, recounting places and spaces in which the human presence is inserted sometimes spontaneous, sometimes romantic and playful, becoming a glue between two worlds, the everyday and the nonexistent.

Giulia Agostinihas exhibited her work at Underline Gallery - New York; Magazzini Fotografici - Naples; Fondazione Francesco Fabbri; Fotografia Europea - Reggio Emilia; Heillandi Gallery - Lugano; Carrousel du Louvre - Paris; ICP - NY; Podbielski Contemporary - Milan; Cattedrale Ex Macello - Photo Open Up; Alkemy - Milan. His images have been published in i-D, Il Sole 24 Ore, Rolling Stone, Internazionale, D-the Republic. In February 2021 he published his book published NFC editions."