Framework of freedom
Photo and words: Lorenzo Morandi
Every object tells a story. On the shelves, almost fantastical characters crowd together, seemingly communicating as if they were part of a comic strip. Talking with Elena, I am struck by the clarity with which she describes her approach: another type of seamless communication. Her process, it seems, is rigorous and responds to the needs of production. Yet she introduces diverse and intimate elements into her work with an immediately recognizable singularity. The results are coherent series of work, real and producible to deadlines; yet free and conscious. She holds together order and openness, design and surprise.
By distancing herself from pre-established rules and standardized approaches, Elena Salmistraro has earned creative freedom. It is fascinating how she has succeeded in transforming her expressive urgency into a method; her intuitions into a material story. Each project seems to carry this complexity: the final form is the visible surface of a deeper process, where research, intuition, and personal vision coincide.
While I photograph her, I am struck by the balance between her image, close to what we might expect from an artist, and her attitude that I perceive as very rational and analytical. The rigor is below the surface, and is the framework that allows her to express herself so freely, building a layered language, made of signs, references, and codes that intertwine.
elenasalmistraro.com