Chiara Caselli

Absence, the light of memories. Molly's Room

XII INTERNATIONAL MONTH OF PHOTOGRAPHY IN MOSCOW ‘PHOTOBIENNALE 2018’

The Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow presents ‘Absence’, an exhibition by Italian photographer and actress Chiara Caselli, within the framework of Photobiennale 2018. The project consists of two parts that will open simultaneously in two different venues. The first, ‘Absence, the Light of Memories’, is showcased at the Tunnel Gallery / Stroganov Moscow State Academy of Industrial and Applied Arts; the second part, Molly’s Room, can be seen at the Italian Institute of Culture in Moscow.

Chiara Caselli is an Italian actress and photographer. Born on 22 December 1967 in Bologna. A graduate of Bologna University, she performed at the Teatro Stabile in Bolzano. She made her screen debut in Francesco Mazelli’s film ‘The Secret’ in 1989. Gained worldwide recognition for her role as Carmella in Gus van Sant’s film ‘My Own Private Idaho’ (1991). She has also worked with Costa-Gavras (‘The Little Apocalypse’, 1992), Michelangelo Antonioni (‘Beyond the Clouds’, 1995), Dario Argento (‘Innocent Blood’, 2001), Liliana Cavani (‘Ripley’s Game’, 2002) and other famous directors.

Chiara Caselli has been a successful photographer for many years. Solo exhibitions of her work were featured at the Venice Biennale (2011) and the Rome International Photography Festival.

The ‘Absence’ project is a search for identity through denial and absence. Experiencing loss, the author fills the emptiness and silence with memories. Before us, page by page, a very personal story is revealed, where reality and fantasy are strangely intertwined.

While working on ‘The Light of Memories’ and ‘Molly’s Room’, two chapters of the exhibition linked by a thread of narrative, Chiara Caselli drew inspiration from Schopenhauer’s theories, according to which ‘Life and dreams are leaves of the same book, reading them in order is living, skimming through them is dreaming’.

The Light of Memories
The word ‘Absence’ was the key for me, and like a red thread it penetrates and stitches together all the works that appear different from each other but are actually the expression of a single feeling.

Absence is the sense of what has gone. The absence of my mother in her bridal veil, developing against the background of cherry trees at night. Absence is the figure of a man walking away along an autumn path, also at night. Once that man was mine, and the tree on which my mother’s veil was thrown stands in his garden, making a portrait of my last visit to a much-loved place from bygone days. (Chiara Caselli)

Molly’s Room
Molly is the main character in the final chapter in James Joyce’s novel ‘Ulysses’. We first met when I was still small: I was twelve and mama took me to the theatre, to see a play where the role of Molly was taken by outstanding Italian actress Piera degli Esposti... an unforgettable encounter. At about that time I began taking photographs. Although the link with Molly only became clear to me many years later, when the desire to convey my inner life in visual images became the most important aspect of my quest as a photographer.

My immersion in the text and image of Molly began in 2010. It was a long journey involving constant development, including the developing means of expression: from Joyce’s text to its theatrical adaptation, from a play performed at the Spoleto Festival to the short film presented at the Venice Film Festival in 2016. (Chiara Caselli)