Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabrielle Arduini.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I am a large format photographer currently living in Bangor, Maine. Growing up in a military family, packing and moving from state to state was not an uncommon occurrence for me as a child. I picked up photography in my formative years as a way to capture the memories of the places I knew I was soon to depart from. However, before I knew it, photography became the vehicle that would drive me to places I had never been before.
In 2014, I left the U.S. to study at the American University of Rome in Italy. In 2015, I made the decision to pursue my photography career at Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta, Georgia.
During my time in Atlanta, I worked at Wolf Photo Design Bar as Project and Production Manager where I led creative initiatives and projects in the Buckhead community. Prior to my graduation from SCAD in 2018, I returned to Italy on a photography internship to document the lifestyle of international spokeswoman Maria Renata Leto.
My series Between Existing II was bought and exhibited by Delta Airlines in 2017-2018. I exhibited at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in 2018, and at SCAD’s Open Studio in 2016 and 2017, Thomas Deans Fine Art in 2017, and with Atlanta Celebrates Photography in 2019. My work was previously featured with VoyageATL in 2020 and now with my most recent photography series in 2021.
Currently, with my partner and our Great Pyrenees, I am making photographs for my new body of work, preservations.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I come from humble beginnings and it has never been an easy route, but it has made me who I am today and because of my struggles, I work extremely hard and diligently. I fought to keep myself enrolled in college when the finances weren’t there and worked multiple jobs to keep my head afloat, but my passion for photography silenced all of the pressure I was dealing with. I experienced a lot of loss during my college years and being alone in the city magnified the pain I endured during those years of intense growth.
It wasn’t until my second year at SCAD that I was introduced to the world of large format photography and that forever changed me. I finally found the medium to express my struggles and extend my growth; its intensity and mystery kept me alive in very dark moments.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I find large format to be a process that is both meditative and challenging. The art form is reliant on attention to detail and planning, but even the most thought-out plan can crumble under the bellows of a large format camera.
My work has a common foundation of using images as language to explore emotions and sensory in the mundane. I am exploring the topic of what it feels to be alive and capturing that emotion in order to preserve it.
How do you define success?
It’s about what you want and expect for yourself, not anyone else. I think a lot of people, myself included, have defined their success based upon others and it’s extremely easy to do in the art community. It’s important to remember what makes you feel alive and to fight for that feeling because that is what will set you apart from others.
Contact Info:
- Email: gabriellearduini.art@gmail.com
- Website: www.gabriellearduini.com
- Instagram: gabriellearduini
Image Credits:
Copyright © 2021 Gabrielle Arduini. All rights reserved.
