Artist Statement

“If we knew something about what we are going to write before doing it, before writing, we would never write. It wouldn’t be worth it.”— Marguerite Duras

The same can be said of photography.

For Barbara Gussoni, the camera is an opening onto the unknown. It allows her to expose herself to others and take the risk of approaching what is still unfamiliar.

As a contemporary photographic artist, art therapist, and storyteller, she combines her experience in literature and art therapy to shape her unique approach to narrative and portrait photography.

“I have always felt the need to listen and tell stories. Only stories reassure me.”Often, it is in silence that the gaze becomes active. Photography remains for the artist a surprise, a mystery emerging from this silence. Her images are born from improvisation, the ability to work with what the present provides, and a sense of wonder.When photographing people, this visual emergence also becomes an emergence of unconscious content. Her practice constantly explores the limits of photography as a tool for human connection, and investigates the possibility of visual co-writing between photographer and subject.Through her work in portrait photography, documentary photography, and participatory projects, Barbara Gussoni creates meaningful connections between people from different backgrounds and experiences. Her projects imagine poetic spaces of encounter, where human and artistic singularities meet and engage in dialogue.Photography then becomes a place of shared storytelling, where the image captures not only a presence, but the possibility of a relationship.