Italian photographer weaves stolen moments into a story

Paris, 10.52 pm

While making images on stolen moments of intimacy, photographer Leonardo Pucci had one thought running in his mind - he wanted to induce tension in the spectator viewing those images. Purpose served, we should say, as we look at the sometimes grainy, sometimes blurred images, their subjects mostly undressed, captured in private moments. The moments range from anything between physical acts of intimacy to simply someone gazing out of the window, lost in thought. Pucci has carefully left the faces out of focus in this photo series, Episodes (without a real order).

Rio de Janerio, 2.08 pm

The Italian photographer has been living in Florence for the last 30 years, working with fashion houses like Prada, Bottega Veneta, and most recently Christian Dior, supervising their creative and development process, while pursuing photography as a passion. This photo series is his first solo exhibition that just did the rounds of New York, before gracing the walls of Sunaparanta, the centre for arts and culture in Goa.

Savelletri, 8.27 pm

Over an email interview, Pucci recalls watching an Italian theatre performance called Twin Rooms years ago. "It underlined how a hotel room, lived in for a brief moment, ends up as a fragment of an open story," he says. "Since then, the broader idea of an intimate and apparently protected space becoming a possible episode for an emotional narration fascinated me." There are 24 photos in the series, or as Pucci likes to say "24 episodes", captured in urban settings around the world, during his business trips as well as travels. Each photo has a place and time assigned to the moment.

Leonardo Pucci

"That creates a false idea of a storyline. In fact, the observer adds his own idea of that particular place and moment, and suddenly the image becomes an emotional territory of affections, memories, visions and expectations. The potential story, then, becomes even more credible because it draws directly from the mind of the onlooker, his dreams, desires and his need to have his story told."

Almost always, the images were taken at dusk or at night-time where they capture in distant windows, the liberty of relaxed bodies. Sometimes, the darkness amplifies the sensuality. "You get rid of constrictions and bans. Your body moves differently from how it does in the day," says the photographer. All the images were clicked spontaneously.

As he went deeper into it, Pucci began to see things he didn't notice before. "My mind started to drive my curious eye. It's incredible how many sensual instants get unnoticed every day, while we just walk past them." Men seem to appear more often in his frames. Was that on purpose, we ask. "Along the way, I just noticed that it was easier to find men at ease without even thinking that the world outside could peek through their windows. Women were more protective of their intimacy," Pucci says. The faces, however, have always been artfully concealed. "I make sure no one can recognise my subjects. This is important because I don't want to relate my 'episodes' to the specific life of someone," he says.

The self-taught photographer links his first memories of photography to his father and how he would, on his Yashica Mat 124G 6x6, study exposure and angles during their family holiday trips. "My father would look into that little window on the top and the box could capture things! That seemed magical to me. Even today, photography continues to have a magical side for me, it surprises me." When asked who serves as his inspiration, Pucci names two artists. "Edward Hopper and David Hockney... the way they compose their paintings. The lines, plains, the way they isolate lights, colours - I constantly try to mix it up, stirring, not shaking, like a good martini."

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