Between Worlds

Robilant+Voena is pleased to present an exhibition of works by photographer Priscilla Rattazzi. Entitled Between Worlds, this exhibition offers a survey of three bodies of work from across five decades: Portraits (1975–2023), Hoodoos (natural rock formations in south-west Utah, 2009–19), and Three Lindens (1991–2021)., bringing together over twenty individual photographs. This is Rattazzi’s first solo exhibition in the UK and the first time that these three distinct groups of works are shown in a single exhibition. The themes offer a reflection of the photographer’s life, with an interlinking chronology, examining human relationships, and relationships between people and their dogs, while suggesting the increasingly profound reassurance of nature as an eternal point of reference, especially in uncertain times. Rattazzi says of the exhibition: "Between Worlds speaks of my evolution over decades among photography genres: from people and dogs to rock formations and ancient trees. It also illustrates a complex shift from analogue to digital technology, and my slow metamorphosis from growing up in Europe and subsequently adopting America as my home. Personal turmoil has always inspired my best work, especially during the past decade. As my main mentor and first employer Hiro told me: “work will always be there for you, work will never let you down, nor will it ever betray you, especially in times of personal crisis.” This exhibition is a survey where I aim to show my range and I chose what I believe are the most interesting images I have taken during the past five decades." The diverse subjects in the exhibition reflect Rattazzi’s multifaceted career. The portraits include depictions of well-known individuals including Gianni Agnelli, Alighiero Boetti, Alberto Moravia, and the Duke of Beaufort, hinting at Rattazzi’s foundation as a fashion and portrait photographer, as well as her personal background within an illustrious Italian family. The hoodoos, quietly monumental, were captured by Rattazzi as a statement against a political act that threatened their continued existence; the photographer made the series in response to the then President Trump’s plan in 2017 to halve the area of protected lands in southwest Utah. In this context, the rock formations appear like stoic memorials to the future loss of this natural environment. The linden trees represented elsewhere in the exhibition, although a subject drawn from the natural world, resemble the human portraits in the level of sensitivity and emotion that is captured through Rattazzi’s lens, providing a depth of feeling beyond a simple representation of these perspectives on nature. It is easy to anthropomorphise the subjects and to see in the organic, almost otherworldly rock formations of the hoodoos, and in their counterparts of the expressive 200-year-old linden trees, the full range of human emotions – at times appearing pensive, enraged, majestic, or wistful. Collectively, the three bodies of work offer a journey across a lifetime through the artist’s lens, capturing moments that are at once highly personal, while also speaking to themes that affect us all: connectedness, beauty, love of nature, resilience, and self-reflection. Rattazzi is also a writer and has published four books – Best Friends (1989), Georgica Pond (2000), Luna & Lola (2010), and Three Lindens (2023) – featuring her photography and writing. Her work has been exhibited internationally including at the Peter Marino Art Foundation, Southampton, New York (Three Lindens, 2023); the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach (Form Forward: Brett Weston and Photographers of Things Unseen, 2022–23), the Staley-Wise Gallery, New York (2014–20), the Knoxville Museum of Art (1992), the Valentina Moncada gallery in Rome, Italy (2004), and in conjunction with the launch of her book Luna & Lola, two exhibitions at the Ralph Lauren stores in East Hampton, New York and Milan, Italy (2010).

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