Where Nature Meets Fashion: An Intimate Interview with Photographer Marta Bevacqua
Marta Bevacqua
Italian photographer and director. A dreamlike world where the wild beauty of the Roman countryside meets the meticulous craft of haute couture.
There is a particular kind of light that runs through Marta Bevacqua's photographs, soft, low, almost devotional, the kind you only learn by growing up around it. She found it first in the flowers and trees around her family's country home outside Rome, then turned the same attention to her sisters and friends. That early bond with natural light and intimate portraiture never left her. What changed everything was a decision: in her mid-twenties she moved to Paris with no apartment, no contacts, and no real grasp of the language, and built a life there one step at a time.
A Decision Inspired by a Master
She began at seventeen, photographing the flowers and trees around the family home before turning her lens on the people closest to her. A course at London's Central Saint Martins sparked her interest in fashion, but Rome made a fashion-photography career difficult, and after years of shuttling between Rome and Milan she decided the honest move was to live in a fashion city. She had visited Paris and loved its atmosphere. She had always loved London too, and was torn between them, but in the end she followed her instinct, and her instinct led her to France.
The choice was both pragmatic and quietly symbolic. She loves the work of Paolo Roversi, the Italian photographer who moved to Paris young, and although she was not consciously following his footsteps, his boldness gave her a kind of permission.
I told myself I could at least take the same big decision, and this is how I ended up choosing Paris.Marta Bevacqua
She did not expect to stay so long, and had no idea where the work would take her. Step by step, she built everything in the city. Years on, she is still there, with her work and a new family, and as she puts it, in Paris she found much more than she was looking for.
The Alchemy of a Collaborative Process
For all the singularity of the images, the process behind them is deeply collaborative. It usually begins with an idea, which she starts by writing down, then develops through a lot of image research and, when necessary, a mood board, the tool she uses to clarify the idea, understand its direction, and test whether it works at all. That mood board then becomes the way she builds and aligns her team, the makeup artists, hairstylists and stylists, while she personally scouts the right model. The preparation, she is clear, is far longer than the shoot itself, and it is the most important part of the work.
I really like sharing the inspiration, giving the others the freedom to express. The final work is just the perfect balance between all of us.Marta Bevacqua
In Conversation
Marta Bevacqua × Antakly Projects
Are there books, movies or songs that inspire your work?
Sure. For example, Stranger Things is one of the most inspiring Netflix series, along with music by Agnes Obel and Moby. As for the books, I could make a list, but it would be too long.
What kind of femininity do you want to communicate with your images?
Certainly a particular kind of femininity, full of flaws.
Is there a dream or a project that you would like to achieve in the future?
Yes, absolutely, and more than one. I would really like to make a project by travelling to distant places.
Can you share some insight on the creative process for your work?
Once I get an idea, I usually start writing about it. I do a lot of image research and, if I need to, prepare a mood board. Then I propose the project to a team, if I need a team, find the location, the clothes, the props, everything, and of course the right model. The preparation is much longer than the shooting itself. It's the most important part of the process.
A New Chapter
After a pause for pregnancy and the first months with her daughter, Bevacqua is returning to her craft with a changed eye. She feels like seeing things in a slightly different way, even if it is hard to explain, and she wants to follow that instinct and see where it leads. It is the kind of shift that tends to mark the start of a new phase in an artist's work.
As for wellbeing, her definition is exactly as economical as her images. Wellbeing, she says, means having the right energies to create; when you feel well, everything seems possible. It is a simple philosophy that underwrites the whole career, the idea that through the act of creation she can carry herself, and her audience, anywhere.
Wellbeing means having the right energies to create. When you feel well, everything seems possible.Marta Bevacqua
Marta Bevacqua is represented worldwide by Open Space Paris.
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© Marta Bevacqua
© Marta Bevacqua
