THE COST OF CULTURE

Last week, veteran Italian fashion photographer Mino La Franca unveiled his social-critical photographic exhibition “Roma Amor” at Bangkok’s La Lanta Fine Art, taking Thai viewers on a unique journey through the Italian cultural heritage.
As his exhibition illustrates, La Franca is an artist of genuinely cultural sensibilities. He juxtaposes contrasting different images of such Roman landmarks as St Peter’s Square, the Vatican Museum, St Peter’s Basilica and Pantheon, with one of them showing cultural decay through the lens of “Inferno”, masked by gruesome scenes in a slaughterhouse.
La Franca is protesting cuts in the public budgets for art, music, theatre and opera that have taken place in the past 15 to 20 years as Italy’s economic crisis has deepened.
“An important Italian minister of the past government said that one cannot live with the culture. I think that we can live mainly with the culture, as culture means not only dusty museums and tourism but also, in the Italian case, design, fashion, food, tradition and more. If we lose all that how can we be competitive in this world?”
La Franca admits the first instinctive reaction to his images from the Italian viewer is a sort of repulsion. “Some even have trouble looking at them and have to turn away. Then when people realise that I am not using easy effects just to shock, many of them go beyond the first impression and they find the work very interesting and strong.”
The other dramatic contrast of his exhibition is the representation of parallel images. This portrays the city in a rebirth through the lens of “smile”, referencing the story from 390 BC when geese saved Rome by squawking to awake the soldiers against the intruding enemy. The juxtaposition of both images depicts La Franca’s hope of a new renaissance in Italy’s lost culture.
La Franca says he is very curious to see how Thais react to his work.
“Thai people are very nice, kind and sweet but also made of steel inside so I am confident that nothing can scare them.”
Having started his career as a fashion photographer, he says he has always worked to create visual emotions that go beyond the actual shots. Before the advent of digital photography, he created his effects in the dark room, playing with textures and manipulating and distorting colours.
He was one of the first to embrace digital techniques and immediately started to experiment. “Some say the computer killed creativity and that anyone can be a photographer with Instagram. I disagree. I’ve always considered the computer a fantastic tool. If you are an idiot, with the computer you’ll become a very fast idiot but you’ll always be an idiot,” he says.
For this exhibition, La Franca says he was inspired by Irish artist Francis Bacon whose paintings were often cruel, tragic and full of “carnality”.
“One thing I found interesting is that Bacon had his breakthrough in 1944 when Europe was in the middle of the worst cruel modern conflict. I’m not, of course, comparing myself to Bacon, or the current Italian social situation to World War II, but I notice that artists are like sponges that absorb what is around and can’t help thrashing out feeling and emotions through art.”
He does not see Thai art in the same situation of decay as he portrays in his exhibition.
“I guess that in Thailand, like everywhere in the world, art is fighting a battle to reach more and more people. Here I see so much imaginative power, creativity, design, and style, especially amongst youngsters. But I also see few opportunities to express it and here perhaps is where Thais could do more. Invest in it, nurture it, and give it opportunity to grow because at the end of the day, artists are the visionaries that can imagine a better world.”
     WHEN IN ROME
- “Roma Amor” is at La Lanta Fine Art until November 30. For more information, visit www.LaLanta.com.