

“Sometimes people saw the camera as a means of becoming famous. They did anything to appear in the newspaper or on TV. They asked me: "where are you taking me?". My standard response was: "nowhere!" [...] People portrayed always want to look their best. That's why they didn't like my photos. But I've never photographed as others wanted, only as I see it. "
Speaking is Santu Mofokeng, during a precious meeting at the Giardini della Biennale, on the occasion of the 55th Venice Art Exhibition in 2015. Food for thought that accompanies the path of transversal mapping of self-knowledge and the world that belongs to the photographic medium and of which Manuela De Leonardis is the spokesperson by recording a series of interviews with the great protagonists of contemporary photography.
The book collects live interviews conducted between 2011 and 2016 with Roger Ballen, Monika Bulaj, Silvia Camporesi, Lisetta Carmi, Tano D'Amico, Joan Fontcuberta, Maurizio Galimberti, Shadi Ghadirian, David LaChapelle, Constantine Manos, Boris Mikhailov, Santu Mofoken, Zanele Muholi, Erwin Olaf, Catherine Opie, Max Pam, Sebastião Salgado, Pentti Sammallahti, Hrair Sarkissian, Dayanita Singh, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Franco Vaccari, Tony Vaccaro, Paolo Ventura, Masao Yamamoto.
Manuela De Leonardis
(Roma, 1966) Art historian, journalist and independent curator. She is a member of the Lazio Order of Journalists since 1993 and since 2004 she has been writing about visual arts for the cultural pages of the manifesto and Alias, Alias Domenica, ExtraTerrestre inserts. She also collaborates with Il Fotografo, Exibart, art a part of cult (ure) and Artribune. With the publishing house Postcart she has published A tu per tu con i grandi fotografi - Vol. I (2011), A tu per tu con grandi fotografi e videoartisti - Vol. II (2012), A tu per tu con gli artisti che usano la fotografia - Vol. III (2013), A tu per tu. Fotografi a confronto - Vol. IV (2017). Among the other books she is the author of: CAKE. La cultura del dessert tra tradizione Araba e Occidente (Postcart 2013), Taccuino Sannita. Ricette molisane degli anni Venti (ali&no 2015), Il sangue delle donne. Tracce di rosso sul panno bianco (Postmedia 2019), Jack Sal. Chrom/A (Danilo Montanari Editore 2019).

Manuela De Leonardis
A tu per tu con gli artisti che usano la fotografia

Manuela De Leonardis
Cake

Manuela De Leonardis
A tu per tu con grandi fotografi e videoartisti Vol. II

Manuela De Leonardis
A tu per tu con i grandi fotografi

Luciano Zuccaccia
Un mondo di libri

Pino Ninfa
Racconti jazz

Diego Mormorio
Catturare il tempo

Gruppo Polaroiders
Impossible time

Sandro Becchetti
L'inganno del vero

Annarita Curcio
Il dragone d'acciaio

Dario Coletti
Il fotografo e lo sciamano

AA.VV.