Elisa Tomaselli, the soul of the camera

Elisa Tomaselli is a young and talented photographer who has been able in the recent years to emerge in the crowded world of photography thanks to her extraordinary artistic sensitivity and expressive ability.

By Luigi Coluccia

I would have liked to write about Elisa and her photography several months ago. Unfortunately I didn’t find the time to do it and this is a great regret for me today. A feeling of emptiness. That’s what she left to me. I got in touch several times asking her availability to be interviewed, I would have loved to have a chat with her to dive in her delicate visionary world, but she was always busy, travelling around Europe to promote her wonderful work. I shouldn’t have given up, perhaps she would have accepted in the end. To be honest, I had the feeling on more than one occasion that she was also a very reserved person, not very keen on talking about herself. I’m also convinced that her being so reserved and introvert has been the reason for her ability to communicate though photography.

Elisa has recently passed away, she was very young. So I can no longer carry out that interview that I already had in mind, but I can try to remember her my own way, looking at her photographs showing that sensitive soul I have always admired.

In her biography we can read, she was born in Frosinone in 1981, she moved for a short period to London and then to Rome, where she lived. Always fascinated by every form of visual art, especially by photography, in 2009 she attended some training courses to learn the basics. After setting aside photography for a few years, she took it up again in 2016 on the occasion of the development of a collective project, which would give her the opportunity to deeply explore photography. Her works have been exhibited in Italy and abroad and published in various magazines such as “Grain Magazine” and “Eye Magazine”. She has received several awards including the Sony Photography Award, Life Framer, IPA, first place portfolio at the London Street Photography Festival and first place portfolio at the Umbria World Festival.

Elisa had a unique ability to tell stories through her photographs. She had a very personal vision of the ordinary world, I would describe her work as intense and sometimes hard. In her photography, the compositional elements are often overlapping and may destabilize the observer, but also inspire strong feelings, emotions and thoughts. Observing Elisa’s work is like leaving for an unforgettable journey. The subjects of her photographs always have vivid, intense and eloquent glances, they capture the observer and through the light spotted on their faces and their incredible expressiveness, they convey their feelings and mood which are the same as Elisa while she’s taking the shot. This is how Elisa gets there, powerfully.

One of the most captivating reportage she has made in her life is undoubtedly the one dedicated to Natalia.

“I was afraid for me and my children – says Natalia. Sometimes I thought about how all this could have happened. Then life can lend you a helping hand and for a moment you can forget all those questions in your head. Three long years have passed, I was looking for myself and my stability, almost without realizing it. Many times I’v been asked: “How’s it going?”, the answer I can give to myself is: “I feel like Alice in Wonderland”.

Natalia is a thirty four year old woman from Bulgary. She has tried for years to escape a constant domestic abusive situation. She was scared for herself but even more for her two children but she plucked up her courage to start her physical and psychological recovery with the help of an organisations that offers help for people experiencing domestic abuse, where she currently lives together with her two children.

“Natalia is a photographic reportage that focuses on her fears and anxieties. In her attempt to come back to a normal life, Natalia is the symbol of all the victims of domestic violence which is still mostly submerged and hidden”

© Elisa Tomaselli – Natalia

© Elisa Tomaselli – Natalia

© Elisa Tomaselli – Natalia

© Elisa Tomaselli – Natalia

© Elisa Tomaselli – Natalia

© Elisa Tomaselli – Natalia

© Elisa Tomaselli – Natalia

© Elisa Tomaselli – Natalia

© Elisa Tomaselli – Natalia

© Elisa Tomaselli – Natalia

© Elisa Tomaselli – Natalia

© Elisa Tomaselli – Natalia

© Elisa Tomaselli – Natalia

© Elisa Tomaselli – Natalia

© Elisa Tomaselli – Natalia

© Elisa Tomaselli – Natalia

© Elisa Tomaselli – Natalia

© Elisa Tomaselli – Natalia

© Elisa Tomaselli – Natalia

© Elisa Tomaselli – Natalia

© Elisa Tomaselli – Natalia

Now that Elisa has forever gone, her story remains incomplete. It sounds like an interesting speech which have been interrupted, a sunrise without a sunset. When a young life turns suddenly off, you always feel unprepared in front of the mysteries that rule our earthly journey. When someone dies, we all feel a deep pain in our hearts. After that, there is only one possibility: keeping memories alive to keep the beloved alive in our hearts.

Elisa said :”Photography is an open window through which it is possible to observe new and different aspects of reality. My intention is not to be an illustrator with a camera but an interpreter of the environment where I live and that I can observe.

Elisa will live forever in the heart of the people who loved her. Her photographic work will always tell about her, a pure soul who knew how to go down to hell and show it to the world.

Note biografiche sull’Autore

Gigi Coluccia

Gigi, salentino di nascita e romano d’adozione, intraprende il percorso di laurea in Economia Bancaria e successivamente abbraccia la carriera militare. Alterna la passione per l’economia e la letteratura, ereditata dal nonno, a quella per la fotografia che coltiva da tempo, applicandosi in diversi generi fotografici, prima di approdare alla fotografia di architettura e minimalismo urbano in cui trova espressione la sua vena creativa. Dotato di personalità votata alla concretezza e con uno spiccato orientamento alla cultura del fare, Gigi intuisce le potenzialità aggreganti della fotografia unite alla possibilità di condivisione offerte dal Social e fonda il Gruppo ArchiMinimal Photography attraverso il quale riesce a catalizzare l’attenzione di tanti utenti italiani e stranieri attorno ad progetto di più ampio respiro che aggrega una nutrita comunità attiva di foto-amatori. Impegnato nella promozione e nella divulgazione della cultura fotografica, crea il magazine ArteVitae, progetto editoriale derivato dal successo della community social, per il quale scrive monografie ed approfondimenti sugli autori fotografici e cura la rubrica Digressioni sulla Fotografia, ricercando nel panorama fotografico contemporaneo, personaggi e spunti di interesse di cui parlare.

[Ndr] La foto di cover è stata gentilmente concessa ad ArteVitae dal suo autore. © Andrea Boccone.

[Ndr] Tutte le foto e i video presenti in questo articolo sono stati reperiti in rete a puro titolo esplicativo e possono essere soggetti a copyright. L’intento di questo blog è solo didattico e informativo.