Matteo Buonomo
From Siberia with love: When photography is life and you nearly end up a dead photographer. It is on the path between (self-)discovery and the search for the essence of humanity, when Matteo presses the shutter button …
How did the picture of the lonesome cowboy came to life: why did you choose the blur,this light and technique – or was it a spontaneous moment?
I unexpectedly ended up to a small rodeo in the middle of nowhere in Oklahoma, after driving for hours through the country. It was magical. When the rodeo finished,I saw the cowboy and the horse alone in the grass, not far from the trailers.
When I take photos, I don’t think too much. In this case, when I saw the cowboy on his horse,their shape as single entity stuck immediately in my mind and I realized that I wanted that photo and wanted to be more elusiveand dreamy.I rotated my aperture ring to overexpose my film as much as I could –and thats it. There is no other frame of that photo in my contact sheets.
Answering your questions: it was a spontaneous moment with a very little bit of technique.
Tell us about your journey to Siberia:
What was your highlight there and what was your worst moment?
That journey was a huge experience for me.
I went to Siberia because after a big delusion I wanted to challenge myself going far from everything and everyone. Stay completely alone in a place where my loneliness could find some comfort and space to express itself. Resonating with what would have been around me.
One of the loneliest and most difficult places to live on earth seemed justthe perfect destinationto me. I travelled alone, mostly walking and hitchhiking.
I don’t speak Russian. I used a little paper with few lines written in Russian to ask hospitality and explaining that I was a photographer and I was curious to take some photographs of them, their home, their life. It was strange because basically for one month I didn’t say a word or share a real conversation with anybody. I only observed.
It was tough, most of the time when I showed off my little paper they answered no and considering that where I was there were no hotels o guest houses I couldn’t give up and had to find someone else if I didn’t want to spend the night under the stars. Romantic,but not the best thing to do in Siberia.
Fortunately,I never slept on the road, at the end of the day I always found someone who gave me shelter and when I entered their home I always felt so privileged and lucky because a whole new spectrum of life, emotions, faces, gestures were inside those wooden wall and I could photograph it. So,the highlights were every single second I spent in those houses sharing intimacy with those people.
The worst moment was when during a night in a very small village I was sleeping and then suddenly I started hearing people screaming loud and knocking at the door of the very tiny house where I was sleeping with hundred of noisy chicks all around me (I swear). I thought these people came to rob me, kill me and throw my body in the river and nobody would ever know what happened to me.I remember I was so scared, but ended up armed witha wooden stick and openingthe door. Considering that I’m writing this interview things didn’t go bad. To elaborate the storyhere would talk too long, but that was definitely the worst moment. I really thought I would get killed.
What is the message of your work?
My work relates to themesthat are unresolved in me. Such as family, home and intimacy.
Something that I still have to figure out and resolve.
I don’t think I have a specific message, I try to take picture in which we can recognize ourself as vulnerable beings but capable of emotions in a world that in its dynamics try to numb us everyday.
What is the first thing you do when you get up in the mornings?
I read the news and lately I have this bad habit to spend too much time on Instagram. But I’m trying to quit.
Where do you see yourself in 2021?
Exactly where I am now, in Sicilyclose to nature and things that inspire me.
What was your highlight of 2020?
I have increased awarenesses on decisions that will be a new base for my practice as a photographerand private person –and I consider this a big achievement.
What is the pandemic doing to you? Does it translate into you work?
The pandemic made me rethink a lot of aspects of my life, as a person, as photographer and as a citizen.It let me realize howunhappy and frustrated I was living in a big city that isalways expectingfrom you to be performant and keepingits rhythm. Givingyou no time to slowdown.I realize that thissoil wasn’t fertile for me.After the lockdown my girlfriend and me packedour stuff, loaded our car and left Milan (Italy) to go living in a very small village of 200 habitants in Sicily. Closer to nature and where we feel we can walk at our own pace and express ourselves.
Of course this choice has impact my work, it won’t be easy to stay here if we talk in terms of public relation,but I’m definitely inspired as never before. In few months I already have too many rolls waiting to be developed and thosedeveloped tell me that the direction is the right one. Last but not least,the distance to get to the airport and go wherever my job takes me is the same that it was in Milan.
What is your signature look?
I think a shard of honesty and melancholic truth.
What is your favoritedrink - and why?
Milk. I think,because it’s my own way to stay connected to the child I was, my own way to not let him vanished. Kind of ritual for me.
And also because some of my favorite movies character drink milk, such as Javier Bardem in „No Country For Old Men“.
Close your eyes for 30 sec and put your hand on your thighs while doing so. What is the first thing that comes to your mind?
The big prickly pear right outside my door. But maybe because it’s taking too long to answer your questions and its what I have being seen from my desk for the last 5 hours. :)
interview FRANCIS SALVATOR
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