#8 - Lara Gasparotto: "Photography was always a refuge"

In this episode I step away from my usual setup for something new: my very first live podcast recording, in front of an audience who got to ask their own questions once the conversation wrapped up. My guest is Belgian photographer Lara Gasparotto, whose intimate, dreamlike images move between tenderness and melancholy, always playing with the relationship between light and silence.In this episode, you'll hear about:Lara's Italian roots and how growing up in Liège, a city she describes as one that was "always trying to be destroyed," shaped her artistic pathHer sixth book, Refuge, made during a period when she went through depression for the first time, while friends of hers were fighting at the front in UkraineWhy she resists the word "artist" and finds it too pretentious to claim, even after ten years with gallery Stieglitz19How drawing and painting on her own photographs became a way back to something she loved as a teenager, before she ever picked up a cameraNature as a compass in her work, the "wolf pack" of friends from Liège who shaped who she is, and becoming a mother at three and a half years into this new chapterHer social engagement, from a project in Ukraine to work in Congo to an upcoming collaboration with the Schunck Museum in Indonesia on the region's colonial pastAbout Lara GasparottoLara Gasparotto (born 1989, Liège) is a Belgian photographer represented by Stieglitz19 for the past ten years. She studied at Saint-Luc École supérieure des arts and picked up a camera for the first time at fifteen, handed to her by photographer Thomas Chable. Her work has been exhibited internationally and often draws comparisons to Sally Mann and Francesca Woodman, though her own influences come more from painting, film and literature than from photography itself.This episode's partner: CameranuThis episode was recorded in collaboration with Cameranu. They understand better than anyone that as a photographer you need more than creativity alone, you also need the right tools, whether that's a new lens or a camera you can rely on during a client shoot. Their specialists think along with you and give you honest advice.As a listener of De Donkere Kamer, you get 10% off your next purchase with the code DDK10 (capitals) at cameranu.be.Free webinarSomething I've noticed for a while now, across the strongest photographers I speak to in this podcast, in masterclasses, and in my 1:1 mentoring, is how consistent their patterns are. In a free webinar I walk you through those five patterns and show you how to apply them in your own way. It's free to join and you'll walk away with concrete insights. Sign up here. Did this live podcast format work for you? Let me know by DM or send an email to [email protected].