“I started taking Polaroids in the early 1970s. I made collages out of them, but most of them have since been lost. I started again for a short time in 1995. I used a vintage Land 100. After the events of September 11, I started projecting the image of the ruins of the South Tower of the World Trade Center onto canvas. The immediacy of the result, compared to the long and intricate creative process that comes with drawing, recording a record or writing a poem, gave me a sense of relief. And that pushed me to go back to Polaroids: now I'm using a Land 250 for close-ups”. This is how Patti Smith describes herself as a photographer. A true rock icon, a leading exponent of American alternative culture, Patti Smith is a musician, actress, author, poet and, of course, a photographer. After all, one of her dearest friends was Robert Mapplethorpe, the great photographer who created the intense image that stands out on the cover of Horses, the singer's debut album. And it was Mapplethorpe who encouraged Patti Smith to pursue an artistic career. In 1969, in Paris, together with her sister Linda, she took her first steps in the field of visual arts.
In the guest exhibition of Futuro Presente, together with some Italian shots, a series of photographs that Patti Smith took during her travels in Japan are exhibited, according to a path that sees the East as the starting point for a broader reflection on the spirituality and mysticism of art. The places and objects portrayed are returned through the transfiguring filter of the gaze of an artist who enchants with the depth of emotions that she manages to convey through her multifaceted creativity.
