FACE2FACE

An exhibition by Sydney-based emerging artist Emilio Cresciani, showcasing x-ray style portraits of people and their rubbish, commenting on our consumer lifestyle.

Garbage doesn’t lie. Wrappers, cans, bottles and cigarettes contradict what we tell ourselves, and what we tell others, about how we live. Italian author Italo Calvino suggests that we are all defined by what we throw away. We are what we dump.

In FACE2FACE I take my interest in waste to a more personal level, making a connection between our public
face and what is privately discarded. Portraits usually focus on someone’s appearance or character but this new series focuses on our private face, that which is hidden to others. Is our true identity found in the rubbish we throw out each day?

I asked my friends to collect their rubbish for the week. I superimposed close ups of this waste onto a photo of their face. I then turned these into negatives. As an x-ray points out the weakness or disease in our body, so these expose our waste as being a hidden side of our lifestyle.

Many people found it confronting to come face to face with the volume of waste they accumulated over a week. Our consumerism leads us to think of rubbish as a necessary evil – provided it can be removed far away to a landfill or washed down the drain.

Emilio Cresciani is an emerging artist working in photography and installation. His artwork explores redundancy and urban change.

His interest is in objects, structures, buildings and the urban landscape, and in particular the increasing number of ‘non-places’ that fill our environment. Waste centres, derelict service stations, road works, car parks and abandoned factories. Beauty is found in these places and objects of repulsion, neglect or obsolescence.

Cresciani holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts from University of Sydney College of the Arts, and has exhibited nationally including at Carlton Project Space, Sydney; Mars Gallery, Toowoomba; The Incinerator, Willoughby and the Australian Centre Photography, Sydney. Cresciani is represented by The Photography Room, Canberra.