Jamila Baroni image artist
Lisbon, Portugal
I always approach and realize my photography, art and writing projects with particular attention to political, social and environmental issues. By choice, what I think is right.
Writing
2020 – Publication of the German translation “Teilnahmeverboten”, with the publisher Unrast Verlag.
2019 – Publication of the book “Vietato partecipare – Amburgo G20. Storia di un processo”, with the publisher Agenzia X.
Photography and art projects
2023 – “Lisboa Luta”
A selection of photos from 2019 to 2023 telling the common thread unites many of my days in Lisbon: social struggles, demonstrations, street protests, solidarity parties and assemblies. Many of the struggles are the same here as in the rest of the world, others are related to local problems, some softer, others heavier and leave you breathless. They are organised by informal groups, associations, collectives, some of which have been around for many years, others that I have seen come into being, others that I have yet to discover.
2022 – “Broken Dreams”
Cyanotypes on 12×12 cm cardboard for exhibition at the Mercado de Santa Clara – Lisbon in December 2022.
2021 – “Turbulence”
Using an ancient photographic technique, I collect and transcribe the narratives brought by the ocean, which become our stories, where we glimpse intimate paths in the flowing stains, contemplate our energy and fragility in deep blue traces, lose ourselves in memories and find the place we came from in the iridescent footprints of the sands, look for answers in the signs of the waves.
2020 – “Lisboa Arborum”
Using an ancient photographic technique, I transcribe the imprints of Lisbon’s woodland environment. I imprint leaves, flowers, buds, bringing out ancient narratives, capturing the traces of the wind and the signs of light, searching for unfinished portions of the landscape.
I always work with respect for these trees, living beings and artworks of the city’s contemporary nature museum.
2020 – We’ll meet in the square at noon
Cameras in European cities on 14 April 2020, Easter Day, frame almost deserted squares and streets for the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
2019 – “Postcards from the mountain”
The project starts from the collection of fragments of the material effects of the meteorological storm Vaia on the forests of the Dolomites in autumn 2018 to stimulate interest and awaken emotions through delicate blue images, cyanotypes that speak of forests that have disappeared, killed by upheavals caused by man.
2018/in progress – “Saudade”
Saudade is a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one cares for and/or loves while simultaneously having positive emotions towards the future. Moreover, it often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never be had again. It is the recollection of feelings, experiences, places, or events that once brought excitement, pleasure, and well-being, which now trigger the senses and make one experience the pain of separation from those joyous sensations. However it acknowledges that to long for the past would detract from the excitement you feel towards the future. Saudade describes both happy and sad at the same time, which is most closely translated to the English saying ‘bitter sweet’. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudade)
2017 – “CV”
At the beginning of 2017 I worked for three months on helping job-seekers, writing CV and taking portraits.
The project takes place in three different moments: a first presentation meeting and theoretical lesson on the contents of the curriculum vitae, a second individual meeting to carry out the portrait, and a final meeting to review and draft the document with insertion of the photo created.
So I know and photograph dozens of people, men and women from many different countries.
The “Curriculum Vitae” project was born with the practical meaning of giving participants a tool and a useful support for finding employment. To this is added the design significance of deepening the theme of social identity through the search for work, taking as a visual reference the portrait that is included in the CV.
2017 – “Primavera bolognese”
The murder of Francesco Lorusso was committed in Bologna on March 11, 1977; the victim was an Italian militant of “Lotta continua” killed by a carabiniere with a gunshot during a student demonstration; his death gave rise to a series of serious riots that shook the city in the days following.
In the spring of 2017, forty years later, the demonstrations and initiatives of struggle continue in the city.
2016 – “Barca”
The “Barca” district was designed by the Bologna architect Giuseppe Vaccaro and was inaugurated in 1962.
The district develops around the very long residential and commercial building called “The Train”, which appears as the backbone of the entire area. On the opposite side of this road there are the main public buildings that determine three pedestrian squares. The residential areas consist of small buildings (2-3 floors). Along the road that connects the main inner street of the neighborhood with the external road network, there are six residential buildings with a height of nine floors.
Google Earth is a three-dimensional graphic application that allows you to view aerial and satellite photographs of the Earth with a very high detail. In the main cities of the planet, the program is able to show images with a spatial resolution of less than a square meter. Most major cities, including Bologna, are available in high resolution so that you can see the buildings, streets and cars.
Tetris is a logic and reasoning videogame invented by Aleksej Leonidovič Pažitnov, a Russian programmer, on 6 June 1984, while working for the Moscow Academy of Sciences.
The pieces of the Tetris are seven, and each of them is a “tetramino”, since it consists of four identical squares. A “tetramino” (from the Greek tetra-, four prefix) is a flat figure composed of four identical squares connected together along the sides.
2015 – “Exarchia”
Exarchia is the name of a neighborhood in downtown Athens, Greece, close to the historical building of the National Technical University of Athens. The Exarchia area is famous as a home for Greek anarchists.
It is there the Athens Polytechnic uprising of November 1973 took place.
It is there, in December 2008, the murder of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos by a policeman caused large protests and demonstrations.
In the district of Exarchia cohabit the anarchist and political struggles with the daily life of the residents.
I tried to look at this cohabitation.
2015 – “The free seed exchange”
In recent years the world has come the interest and commitment to the recovery of ancient local varieties of seeds that have always been essential to the diet, such as grain, beans, corn.
All over Italy are born initiatives with the aim of sharing and exchanging seeds. The “The free seed exchange” is the motto of these initiatives, to highlight that the seed must be free, as opposed to those who would like to patent and prevent the exchange.
I tried to look at these rare and ancient seeds as precious jewels, to preserve with care.
2014/2015 – “Ex”
There are 11,000, 12% of the total, abandoned industrial warehouses in Veneto, a rich region in northern Italy. Ex mechanic workshop, ex hospital, ex slaughterhouse, ex paper mill, ex barracks,…
2015 – opening artistic website “jamilabaroni.com”
Teaching
2018/2019 – teacher in cyanotype theory and technique workshops (Italy)
Jamila Baroni image artist
Lisbon, Portugal
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