Interview: Mariano Doronzo

16 Nov

Today we’re featuring the work and words of Nottingham-based photographer and poet Mariano Doronzo.

Recently, Mariano was selected by Magnum Photos for a program of long-term mentorship with Matt Black and Susan Meiselas. Due to the costs of this program, he has started a crowdfunding campaign to get closer to realizing his dream. You can help him by visiting his Go Fund Me page and maybe get one of his beautiful original handmade darkroom prints!

Tell Us A Bit About Yourself

My name is Mariano Doronzo, I'm an Italian photographer and a poet. In 2013, after studying and graduating in engineering, I moved to Bristol with only £660 in my pockets and broken English. I guess I did it to challenge myself and get out of my comfort zone. Maybe, just to run away and escape the "Graduate, Find a Job, Get Married, Have Kids" classic sequence.

While in Bristol, Clara, a Parisienne friend of mine, gifted me her grandad’s Praktica (an East German film camera) with the promise I would load a film and use it. And so I did when I moved to Nottingham the following year. Not that I wanted to be a photographer, it was just a useful way to get to know people and places being on my own in this new city.

How Has The Pandemic Impacted Your Practice / Daily Life?

I'm still figuring out the consequences of the pandemic on my life. About my practice, being mainly focused on finding connection with people, I did not shoot a lot during lockdown or during the time when we still had to wear masks.

Still today I struggle to find again that energy that makes many encounters a kind of magic. Feels like after these two years we've been deprived of something (can't explain exactly what) that we will never get back.

Are You Working On Anything At The Moment?

I've just been selected by Magnum Photos for a long-term mentorship course. This will be an opportunity to refine and complete one of my projects (can't tell you which one yet) I've been working on for the last six years.

You can also help me to accomplish this dream of mine with a small help at my crowdfunding page 🙂

How Have You Used Photography To Improve Your Mental And Emotional Wellbeing? Any Advice For Others?

Photography's always been an open door on the world - people and stories - around me. It's an excuse to start talking to the stranger next to you, to start a new trip or just an exercise to learn to see things. Things we see everyday without really looking at. All of this makes me feel part of something and gives a sense to the "hopeless emptiness" of our existence. Sorry, I didn't want to bring you down, I'm actually a happy person.

On Reflection, As We Emerge From Isolation, what Lessons Will You Carry With You As You Look Towards The Future?

I've learned so many things and already forgotten about them as soon as life went back to "normal". For sure, I've never been so looking forward to see and reach all my friends again. Love you beautiful people!