10 Questions with Rebecca Lamona

Rebecca Lamona is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Berlin, Germany. She was born in Sant'omero, Italy, in 1995, where she began her art studies at a very young age in the field of cultural conservation. This path led her to gather a profound knowledge of the history of colour and painting. Later on, she decided to undertake the Academy of Fine Arts in Macerata, influenced by the painters she had studied. In her works, she mainly uses photography and painting, and she combines elements from both fields to create new pieces. Her work has been exhibited in multiple galleries across Berlin, Milan, and Rome.

@rebeccalamona

ARTIST STATEMENT

In constant evolution, her work is characterized by being light and imperfect, seeking to capture moments in the same way as a diary. She defines her work as "pieces of memory". As the artist explains, "Each physical place has its own story. Each space that is part of our experience comes to our mind not only with its architecture but also with the personal memories of the lives that were lived there. With their evocative power, memories are an undeniable testimony of these past lives, which, re-lived with all the dramas, complexities, and illusions of the present, will become future memories. They are unrepeatable instants of time that we keep in our hearts because we perceive places in relation to the memories we have of them". In this way, she starts with analog photography, as she believes that the moment should be purely captured and not selected. Then she applies painting and partially removes elements from the photograph. Lamona's work aims to leave identifiable traces, trapping the memories and transforming them into matter.

Rumore, Mixed media, 35x35 mm, 2018 © Rebecca Lamona

INTERVIEW

First of all, tell our readers a little bit about you. Who you are and how did you start experimenting with images?

As a very curious person who loves to observe everything around her, I have always had a special interest in images. When I decided to go to the academy, images were my teachers, and the most important lesson they taught me was to look at what is shown. But I just started experimenting two years ago, before my second degree in painting. Before, I only painted, but of course, I also took pictures. I used to work separately, then I decided to combine these two techniques when I encountered slides, which for me were the ultimate images, and I had to work with lightness, carefully observing contrasts such as noise and silence.

What is your personal aim as an artist?

My aim is to make people think, or at least to create questions. I think that art, and everything that includes it, should try to make people think.

Erano colline, Mixed media, 35x35 mm, 2018 © Rebecca Lamona

Le due gemelle, Mixed media, 35x35 mm, 2018 © Rebecca Lamona

Can you tell us about the process of creating your work? What aspect of your work do you pay particular attention to?

My creative journey focuses on a word we don't usually use: 'remember'. The human being does not care much for this simple word; on the contrary, we forget it very quickly. So I try to block out events, memories, events that we would have the pleasure of erasing, everything that would hypothetically be ephemeral because it is only passing, "unwritten". I believe that we have a lot to learn from ourselves, so I pay a lot of attention to the images I use, they are not simple shots but sensations, so I like to make them real landscapes.
You blend photography and painting. What are the differences and similarities to you between those mediums? And how do you mix them?

In my opinion, they have a lot in common if we compare it with analog photography (I use analog photography for my work). But if we consider photography nowadays, I cannot find any connection. These two techniques have always been used to reproduce reality, photography much more than painting. Unfortunately, painting has never been able to catch up with photography since it was born, as it is obviously a faster and instantaneous medium. I, therefore, consider painting to be a slow medium of expression, but in the sense of reflection, the painting is born in anticipation, and the same goes for analog photography. Both seek silence versus noise, slowness versus speed, wonder versus indifference. Through the analog photographic material, by imprinting on film environments that have marked me, details, people, I create the visual history of my memory. The final work is the result of successive pictorial manipulations, abrasions, additions, erasures.

Monastero, Mixed media, 35x35 mm, 2018 © Rebecca Lamona

In your statement you talk about "pieces of memory". Tell us more about this concept.

It is a kind of diary in which I combine my various identities as a painter and photographer. We all have special memories, important places, feelings that we would like to trap forever, so it is a personal challenge to try to make them matter, so I have tried to create a language that brings all this out.

Where do you draw inspiration from for your work? Do you have any specific reference?

I love cinema. It's one of my sources of inspiration, like literature, poetry, and definitely art history. I get inspiration from everything. I guess a little bit like all artists do. But if we have to be specific, the words are my sources of inspiration; sometimes, only one is needed to create a work.

What is your favorite experience as an artist so far?

I think all my experiences are important. I don't have a favorite one. In every experience an artist has, he wants to create something different. Growing on a personal and artistic level then comes with time and is closely linked to all my experiences, not just a few.

You are currently based in Berlin. What do you think about the art community and market there? How different is it from Italy?

I can't call myself part of the art world yet, although I have exhibited both in Italy and in Berlin. But, then, having moved here when the pandemic started, it is not easy to find collaborations or galleries. I can only say one thing that I have noticed; the Berlin art market is much more direct and faster than the Italian one.

What is one lesson you learned from this past year's experience? And how did it help you further develop your art?

Fragility. We never realize that we are fragile beings no matter how strong we want to appear. I think we are very afraid of this word because we will admit our true nature of being ephemeral, born with the sole purpose of dying, ugly, of course, but fascinating at the same time.

Assenza, Mixed media, 35x35 mm, 2018 © Rebecca Lamona

And finally, what are you working on now, and what are your plans for the future? Anything exciting you can tell us about?

Now I am working on a project called Sixty Seconds. It is a project that has started from my obsession with images. It is made of 60 canvases painted and then packaged, as a metaphor for this society that does not pay attention to what is always in front of their eyes. By living here in Berlin, I hope to develop my projects better, and I am now learning German so that I can integrate a little more into the artistic community. I believe that if you stay in one place for a long time, you have to learn the local language so that you can better juggle the world around you and better understand the culture that does not belong to you. But what I would really like to succeed in opening here is a German-Italian gallery, a project that came about in collaboration with a sculptor friend of mine, who is now in Italy, and we will see how it ends.

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