Mimmo Jodice

The 29th Festival of Films on Art in Montreal also featured a film by Giampiero D’Angeli and Alice Maxia about the Italian photographer Mimmo Jodice. The film opens with Mimmo Jodice strolling the Mediterranean coast during a beautiful morning light, he speaks about the infinity of the sea while the audience is treated to his photographs of the sea.

The film is an inspiring conversation with the photographer. Jodice describes his journey into photography from the beginning, which was for him in the late 1950s. The next decade was particularly inspiring for him as he had the opportunity to meet artists such as Lucio Amelio, Warhol, Rauschemberg, Beuys, Kounellis, Burri, Pistoletto. He became a teacher of photography at the Naples Academy during a time when such posts were quite unusual for photography. Mimmo Jodice’s photography includes experimental works that explore the relationship of photography to reality and memory. He has continued to photograph the urban environment of Naples, its inhabitants, architecture and sculpture.

The film follows the photographer from the studio to the streets of Naples as he takes photographs with his medium-format film camera. I particularly enjoyed the sequences in the darkroom, where we get a rare glimpse into his darkroom techniques. The film is part of a series titled “Fotografia Italiana”, available on DVD from giart.tv. The other four documentaries in the series are dedicated to: Gabrielle Basilico, Gianni Berengo Gardin, Franco Fontana, and Ferdinando Scianna.

Mimmo Jodice quotes the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa:

…but what was I thinking about before I got lost in seeing? This phrase seems as though it were written for me and describes my recurring behaviour quite well: I lost myself in seeing, imagining, and following visions outside reality

[Photomedia Forum post by T.Neugebauer from Apr 05, 2011 ]