Valérie Karakatsanis Zanutto Photography, bringing architecture back to life

Valérie Karakatsanis Zanutto is on display at  “Come look at my town”. The touring exhibition by ArchiMinimal Photography is travelling throughout Italy and shows the work of 38 photographers who have given their interpretation of the city. We are glad to introduce them all.

by Alessandra Bettoni

Valérie Karakatsanis Zanutto

Valérie Karakatsanis Zanutto takes part to the touring exhibition Come look at my town by ArchiMinimal Photography with this image, which has been taken in London during her staying in the British town. We are honored to have Valérie  among the featured artists in the ArchiMinimal Photography Roadshow and if you want to get closer to this valuable photographer, you can read this interview published some time ago on the blog. #artevitae

© Valerie Karakatsanis Zanutto

There is a new kind of architecture photography that differs from the traditional practice and focuses on a surrealistic way of displaying the urban setting. Cities, buildings and urbanscapes are approached according a more artistic vision which sometimes goes far beyond the mere reality, thus rendering evocative images of the surrounding architectural elements. This new photographic trend is effectively expressed in the artwork of Valérie Karakatsanis Zanutto.

Valérie Karakatsanis Zanutto lives in Paris and we had the chance to appreciate her inspirational photography, combining a fresh approach and a keen eye for detail, by observing her impressive images which she shares in some photographic groups. We have been so impressed and charmed by her urban vision that we have asked her to tell us something more about her work and herself as an artist. That’s the result.

@ Valérie Karakatsanis

For Valérie, the passion about photography didn’t come by chance.

Her father draws and paints beautiful paintings of Venice, a true autodidact who has an innate talent. One of her uncles, a great lover of classical music, spent his free time between photography and painting. Other members of her family have evolved through different artistic universes and she probably inherited all these artistic influences. She started drawing very young then turning to painting and since then she has always loved art in all its forms.

“It is actually somenthing that comes from the past, from my family. Photography is for me as an extension of drawing and painting. If I look at my atwork now, I believe to have been inspired by painters before any, the surrealism of Dali, Magritte, Picasso’s Cubism, Edward Hopper nostalgia and also other painters.”

“In photography, I love the universe of Garry Winogrand for its street photography, Sebastiao Salgado for his black and white, the realism, the hardness of life, Guy Bourdin for his surrealist work, offset, provocative and touching, the irony and derision pictures of Martin Parr and other photographers whose works are always a good inspiration.”

@ Valérie Karakatsanis

Her educational and artistic background, together with her previous working experience have also had a big influence on how she creates her photography. While working in the communication sector of some international companies, she decided to resume her studies to complete her educational and artistic background in France.

One day the opportunity came.

As a photographer, she likes to push her creative boundaries to create her personal urban visions, being attracted by the surrounding architectural and urban elements, which in her captures come powefully to life and are crystallized for the passing of time, always in the attempt to give a genuine emotion.

@ Valérie Karakatsanis

AMB: Valérie, it might seem a bit naif but why photography? Do you see yourself as a storyteller? Or a documentarist, trying to fix time fragments in your photographs? Or what else?

VK: Well I am just a human being who try to give an emotion through what I see…As Garry Winogrand said: “what is important, that is not the photographer but the photography…” I feel the photography as an art and a testimony of the passing of time. I just hope to give an emotion…
Everything goes very fast in this world and human beings do not have time to observe their surroundings…
Sometimes I go for a walk and when I see an arch, an architectural element, I take a picture, it may not seem good to the one who accompanies me at that moment, so I imagine to restore life of this element of architecture that people do not seem to see or simply perceive it without any beauty.

@ Valérie Karakatsanis

AMB: How did you come to Architecture and Urbanscape?

VK: I have always been fascinated by the architecture, the various structures, the buildings, the skyscrapers, the industry, the construction, the raw material, the fact to build thus to create…it is the genius of the creation that I like through the architecture…
It is also the geometry, angles, curves, lines, it represents us as human being, we are made by all this geometry and we evolve through it…

@ Valérie Karakatsanis

AMB: Are you planning your shooting or are you attracted by everything you see when you get it?

VK: I love photographing architecture, urban, people and I love to travel to explore new places. I can check out the locations beforehand and for others I just let myself be carried along by what I discover on site. Most of the time, I prefer to go on a reconnaissance mission.
 However, the light changes all the time, so I can stay a long time in the same place to shoot with different lights.

In conclusion Valérie, we’d like to thank you for your kind availability to have this lovely chat. We see, you mostly shoot in Paris and London, have you ever thought about some Italian cities as the next setting for your shooting?  This is an invitation for you to come and an opportunity for us to appreciate your vision of Italy in some of your next lovely work. Thank you!

Valérie Karakatsanis Zanutto is a french photographer and graphic designer. She has been working in the communication sector of some international companies. She has graduated from the school of Design and Applied Arts in Paris, she attended additional trainings in graphic design and photography at the School of Image (Gobelins) and also evening classes at the Ecole du Louvre. She is a freelancer and you can see much of her work or get in touch by visiting her Facebook page and her website.

ArchiMinimal Photography Roadshow – Mostra Collettiva Itinerante “Come look at my town!” – Edizione 2018

Logo ArchiMinimal Photography ©

“Come look at my town!”è la mostra itinerante promossa della casa ArchiMinimal che porterà in tour 38 fotografie di 38 autori, italiani e stranieri, in 9 città Italiane. Inaugurato lo scorso 20 gennaio a Bologna, il tour fotografico si concluderà con l’esposizione finale ospitata dal Semplicemente Fotografare Live 2018, consolidata e vivace kermesse fotografica curata dall’omonimo Gruppo fotografico che si terrà a Novafeltria di Rimini, negli ultimi due weekend di Settembre.

Il primo grande evento Live di ArchiMinimal Photography ha lo scopo di promuovere la fotografia d’architettura urbana, interpretata attraverso visioni urbane e architettoniche che attingano dall’essenzialità e dalla sottrazione di elementi alla composizione, non il contrario, esaltando quell’approccio compositivo tipico del minimalismo urbano che è anche il carattere distintivo dell’omonimo Gruppo fotografico.

ArchiMinimal Photography e il tema della mostra, la città. La mostra è promossa da ArchiMinimal Photography, il Gruppo social che tratta di fotografia d’architettura, alla quale ha attribuito diverse sfumature, raccogliendo immagini di architetture futuristiche e classiche, di dettaglio ma anche di paesaggio urbano contemporaneo e decadente. Annovera autori di diverse città e nazionalità che ogni giorno offrono le loro personali visioni urbane. Il tema della mostra itinerante trae spunto proprio da questo: la visione della propria città, sia essa di provincia o giungla urbana cosmopolita, quella in cui viviamo oppure quella che ha attratto la nostra creatività in occasione di una visita.

Fra i generi fotografici raccolti in ArchiMinimal Photography abbiamo quindi optato per quello denominato Urban Street che aspira ad unire l’elemento architettonico alla presenza umana che lo anima, dando vita a scenari urbani che raccontino la città in un tour virtuale intorno al mondo. Il tema ha consentito di aprire la partecipazione ad autori e fotografie di tutto il mondo – dall’Italia alla Francia e alla Germania, dalla Gran Bretagna agli Stati Uniti sino al Giappone. Le fotografie in mostra esaltano le caratteristiche urbane ed umane della città, luogo suggestivo e ricco di spunti creativi per indagare le mille sfaccettature del paesaggio urbano.

Le tappe del tour fotografico.

 “Come look at my town” ha inaugurato il tour lo scorso 20 gennaio 2018 a Bologna e prosegue fino a Settembre 2018 nelle seguenti città:

• Genova: dal 12 al 25 Febbraio – Cinema Teatro San Pietro – Piazza S. Paola Frassinetti 10
• Roma: dal 02 al 16 Marzo – Studio Architetti Celletti – Via Simone de Saint Bon, 26
• Napoli: dal 28 al 13 Aprile – Magazzini Fotografici – San Giovanni in Porta, 32
• Ancona: dal 19 al 27 Maggio – Palazzo Camerata – via Fanti 9
• Gallarate (VA) dal 09 al 16 Giugno – Unique 18LAB – via Alfredo Cappellini 18
• Milano: dal 18 al 23 Giugno – Spazio Chiamamilano Laghetto 2.0 – via Laghetto 2
• Monza: dal 14 Luglio e per tutto Agosto – Spazio Turnè Bistrot – via Bergamo, 3