The first self portraits
I am Rita Santanatoglia (Alìta) , an Italian artist. I was born in 1979.
Young women, often friends, have been the first subject of my photographs.
Simultaneously, in 2002, I started taking self-portraits. Self-portrait soon became my artistic language, the means of research of my true identity.
In 2005 I obtained my degree at School of Fine Arts in Macerata. I also studied in the School of Fine Art in Rennes, France, for the Erasmus project.
In Rennes, I learned to develop and to print black and white film in the darkroom guided by Professor Tom Drahos.
Later I moved to Rome where I obtained my second degree at the School of Fine Arts. Thanks to a School ship, I have been an Assistant Professor of Photography, Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma, Chair Professor Andrea Attardi.
In Rome, my research became more introspective. I started to take pictures to investigate the meanders of the city, its walls, its ruins, trying to immortalize that fleeting self, in the exteriors and interiors of Rome.
Artistic Nomadism
In 2011 I moved to Paris, Mecca of artistic experimentation and buildings in decline.
My research became more feverish and restless. The inner self is outlined in the sharpness of the COCOON which identifies my inner world.
In this inner world, I should feel protected, but in reality, this shell is an impenetrable cage. This cage has crumbling walls, like those of old buildings.
https://art.alita.photo/femme-embrione-self-discovery/
Then I moved to London, a cosmopolitan city, fast and innovative. My research changed, it became more realistic and I started to use colors.
My life has always been marked by a certain human and artistic nomadism that is still naturally reflected in my research.
The Space becomes Time
The main focus of my photographs has always been the connection between the human body (my own self) and the place as a psychological and mental space. They are reciprocally necessary and complementary to one another.
I always choose the locations of my shootings, both internal and external or abandoned places according to my feelings, i.e. where I feel there is a chance of access to the other side.
I search for a door on the perceivable world to go elsewhere, manipulating the perceivable reality and playing with Time to create a present that only exists in photography.
My intervention on the Space, with the photographic gesture, transforms it into Time.
A latent, hidden, inner, unconscious Time. A suspended time , because it is a time of another dimension, which floats and “haunts” my images.
