Born in São Paulo but raised in Switzerland, this multifaceted photographer registers counter-culture and makes room for a more inclusive work, plenteous of symbolic insertions and cultural contrasts. The images of Vinicius Terranova explore the unknown, and that poses a challenge to the observer, guiding him into perceiving and thinking over his own sensations and human values.
How did you start your career in photography?
Becoming a photographer was a natural process, coming from my childhood aspirations of being an artist and studying cinema. What enchanted me in photography was the symbiotic result in every image, this encounter between real yet different perspectives in the composing of a single element. In every artistic area, I've always felt a fascination with the reunion of different cultures and the visual friction between them.
Photography has also followed me since my early years. I have a particular project consisting of a personal ‘90s photograph archive gathered to represent my first interactions with art and the relation I established between creating and overcoming.
Photography has also followed me since my early years. I have a particular project consisting of a personal ‘90s photograph archive gathered to represent my first interactions with art and the relation I established between creating and overcoming.
In which ways is fashion connected to your work?
Fashion allows me to create infinite narratives and my connection to it may vary depending on the project, but very positively on controlling the atmosphere. Fashion helps me establish the time or even timelessness in my work.
Flores Raras is one of your most recent series about beauty inside aesthetic or ideological empowerment, could you talk a little bit more about it?
Flores Raras literally translates to rare flowers. The project consists of a portraits set I’m gathering of people whose beauty is often marginalized. My point is to analyze how being uncommon is far from being negative. Actually, when you possess a different –therefore rare– trait, this feature makes you more beautiful and special, never less.
I launched the project portraying three black sisters, two of them being albino twins. Their love for each other is visible, their beauty is complementary in every single way and their differences coexist in harmony just like it should be every way in society.
I launched the project portraying three black sisters, two of them being albino twins. Their love for each other is visible, their beauty is complementary in every single way and their differences coexist in harmony just like it should be every way in society.
Do you think you have any responsibility when making statements as a photographer and creator?
As a photographer I find it important to open a debate in order to create. My responsibility consists in truly experiencing the transformations among the situations and the subjects I address, so to produce imagery that can enable the discussion of these matters in the art field.
You were raised in Switzerland but now you are currently living in Sao
Paulo. Has this fact changed your view and the way you take photographs?
No doubt this cultural contrast was determinant in the construction of my perspective. In Switzerland I lived in a boarding school and had the opportunity to get along with people from all over the world. This references mixture led me into having a more unified idea of the world while keeping my own essence raised into different cultures constructs.
Sao Paulo is a huge city. Its cultural richness and amazing diversity makes it an open-air canvas. Living here makes a total difference in my personal and artistic improvement.
Sao Paulo is a huge city. Its cultural richness and amazing diversity makes it an open-air canvas. Living here makes a total difference in my personal and artistic improvement.
In which ways has art helped you?
I use art to feed my soul, making it a way to understand things and find answers. Now, it has become a way to communicate my reflections, the key to accessing the best there is within us.
“My point is to analyze how being uncommon is far from being negative.”
Who are your main influences?
I have a special admiration for Jodorowski and the way he uses poetry and symbolism to construct an image. I'm interested in this approach to art and philosophy as healing tools. I could extensively list my references but recently I've been following Pierre Verger and Jean Paul Goude’s artworks more closely.
Tell me about what are you working on at the moment and your future plans.
My current challenge is to find different ways of expressing myself through art, experimenting paths that could complement my photography. I'm working on a series of performances contemplating each participant individual experience in this poetic and symbolic atmosphere, therefore opening space for debate and transformation.
We’ve met thanks to social media, but I want to go further and know your opinion on the real importance of it when it’s connected to photography and if that has helped you in some way.
I believe social media allows a more parallel, democratic and honest relationship between the artist and his public. It is an important tool in my work, helping me cross boundaries and broadly communicate without mediators. Social media also helps building creative bridges with other artists and establishing new professional networks.
