
Laura Fiorio is a freelance photographer based in Berlin. In her artistic practice she deals with urban spaces and the political tension between the private and public spheres. Her projects, developed through choral narratives, interact with existing archives and materials, questioning the power dynamics embedded in the editing process of images as memories; their institutionalised use and hence their critical and subversive potential. Currently she is working on several individual and commissioned projects, including ‘The Whole Life: Archives and Reality’ commissioned by HKW, Berlin. She has been guest professor at the Universidad de Baja California, Tijuana, MX and University for Arts and Cultures, Ulan Bator, MN, among others.
Alumni
A DIFFICULT HERITAGE Visions from the Family Archive. Vernacular photography as a mean of self and collective analysis
Review about the exhibition at Remont Gallery on Nero Magazine by Emanuele Carlenzi
Workshop “Sonic Swamps: Reminiscence as Resilience” with Susanna Gonzo
at When You’re Calmer Space, Berlin as part of Vorspiel Transmediale / CTM Festival
The sound and listening workshop created a collective space for reflection and imagination around the sonic layers of memory we and the spaces we inhabit withhold ~ like swamps. Starting from interrogating the power structures that try to submerge the most vulnerable histories, we engaged in a process of listening and sharing stories through drawing and sound. We wish to explore how personal memories flowing together can resist hegemonic attempts to shape history.
The result of the workshop is a collective composition recorded on a tape cassette.
Multimadeira Residency at Funchal, Madeira
Altars of the Everyday is a project that activates personal objects through installations in private homes. I worked on the island with objects found in our residency house and of the Multimadera Archive.
A Difficult Heritage: visions from the Family Archive
Solo exhibition in collaboration with Mario Margani at Remont Gallery, Belgrade. Curated by Ginevra Ludovici and Giulia Menegale and supported by Culture Moves Europe Grant.
The opening of the exhibition will be followed by a public program taking place in footnote – centre for image and text and Remont Gallery:
– “Memory and artistic methodologies” Conversation with the artists Vladimir Miladinović and Vahida Ramujkić
– “Family Archives” open workshop inviting to share and discuss own materials, such as pictures, documents, audio recordings.
– “Memory making in the public space” walking workshop in collaboration with Milovan Pissarri and Resistenze in Cirenaica
Participation in Archivio Aperto
In the context of Archive Lovers Lab, I present my project dealing with family archive and Italian colonialism.
Archivio Aperto is the festival dedicated to the rediscovery of small-format film heritage private, amateur, experimental, artist’s cinema — organised by Home Movies – Archivio Nazionale del Film di Famiglia.
“Speculative Properties”
Exhibition Protest, Adalbertstr. 9 (Berlin-Kreuzberg)
For Speculative Properties, I built Eviction Altars: sculptural and ephemeral installations, made out of things which have been inhabiting the space for decades, absorbing collective memories and materializing the spirit of this specific community. Those objects will have to migrate or be sacrificed in the name of the cult of gentrification.
Composing them in an altar is a ritual to exorcise the evil of speculation and accompany that spirit not to get lost and to reincarnate in another, more peripheral place. Everyone is welcome to bring offerings to the Eviction Altars and bid farewell to the Muscle Temple.
Solo Exhibition at ECCHR, Berlin
ECCHR is an independent, non-profit legal and educational organization dedicated to enforcing civil and human rights worldwide.
Together with those affected and partners worldwide, ECCHR uses legal means to end impunity for those responsible for torture, war crimes, sexual and gender-based violence, corporate exploitation and fortressed borders.
Looking out the frame. Photography as a relational practice
Conversation with Ginevra Ludovici published on Made in Magazine
PODCAST Laura Fiorio and Maaza Mengiste in conversation with Wolfgang Kaleck
ECCHR FRAMING HUMAN RIGHTS #11 Archival interventions – The untold stories of (colonial) wars
In this episode, Ethiopian-American author Maaza Mengiste and Italian artist and photographer Laura Fiorio sit down with ECCHR General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck. The conversation centers on the colonial history of Italy in Ethiopia. Mengiste talks about the often overlooked role of women in Ethiopia’s fight against Italian occupation during World War II, and Italian artist Fiorio talks about her work “My fascist Grandpa.” Both bring their perspectives to contextualize photography and its manifold meaning and ability to hold and tell truths.
An extract of the conversation can also be read on independent online magazine Untold stories