Photography becomes a reflection of the collective consciousness: this is the underlying theme of Cristian Castelnuovo's new solo exhibition, titled "I Am Your Mirror," running from February 7th to 21st at "The Social Gallery" in Quartu Sant'Elena . The opening will be held on Saturday, February 7th at 6:00 PM.
The exhibition is curated by Roberta Vanali , who emphasizes how Castelnuovo uses portraiture not only to capture the moment, but to create a true laboratory of ideas, where contemporary art engages with society. "If photography is the art of stopping time to make it eternal, the mirror, on the other hand, a place of transformation and deception, is the realm of perpetual change. It is no coincidence that Roland Barthes defines photography as the presence of something that is no longer there, or rather of what has been, since it mechanically reproduces what can never existentially be produced. The mirror, on the other hand, is the logical opposite: it has no memory. It exists only in the present. This antithesis, one of the most profound cruxes of the philosophy of the image, is the soul of Cristian Castelnuovo's latest project, a field of action where these two worlds coexist and collide, creating a conceptual short circuit. The artist uses portraiture as a laboratory of ideas, a critical lens to analyze the relationship between contemporary art and the social fabric. Therefore, he doesn't simply show faces, but acts as a mirror of the collective consciousness. Between memory and spectacularization, the exhibition is the result of a rigorous selection of hundreds of portraits created over the course of a twenty-five-year career. "In the mirror there is another who spies on us," Borges would say, dragging us into a trap where the self is lost in its double, just like Narcissus, who could no longer distinguish himself from his reflection."
Born in 1977, Cristian Castelnuovo is an internationally renowned photographer . With a Master's degree in Photographic Arts from Westminster University in London, he has exhibited in galleries in London, Los Angeles, Milan, Paris, Berlin, and at the Venice Biennale. His career includes collaborations with Grazia Neri, Massimo Sestini, and ANSA, and international awards and recognitions such as the Premio Celeste and an IPA mention. Founder of the Centro Fotografico Cagliari in 2017, Castelnuovo has built an artistic path that combines aesthetic research and social commitment. The exhibition is supported by the Autonomous Region of Sardinia, the Municipality of Quartu Sant'Elena, and the Fondazione di Sardegna.
