Martina Cirese ^©  

(Roma, 1988)

Martina Cirese is an Italian photographer born in Rome, 1988. Since 2012 she begun to work as a freelance photographer, featuring cover stories on L’Espresso and Internazionale. Her first long term project ‘Asankojo’ has been acknowledged by several awards nominations. Her works have been exhibited across Europe and featured in international publications including The Guardian, Time, National Geographic, GEO and Burn magazine among others. After 10 years spent between Berlin and Paris, since 2022 she is based in Rome.

The works in this auction are all part of the series RESPIRO.

"For the Respiro series (2020 - 2023, France, Italy, Greece) I placed my subjects in the Mediterranean Sea, capturing them in the middle of the night. The shots are taken in apnea, reversing the point of view. The figures underwater seem as if they are in suspended animation, like specimens preserved in jars, like creatures that may flinch any second and jerk to life. Darkness and water are the space-time to transport our ambivalence, observing what a body can do in an alien dimension, where the laws of physics change rules and the individual elements become universal: instinct, survival, breath. Ultimately, the series seeks to showcase our inner selves: frozen amid conflicting wants, stuck between forgotten breaths, and forever dying to live." (Martina Cirese)