Gallery: A Portrait of a 40-Year Marriage, Told Through Household Items
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The objects in Libro di Famiglia are meant to convey an unspecified impression of the lives of the photographer's parents.
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Capra, now living in Berlin, got the idea to shoot the series while planning to do another based on *La Luna e i Falò*, a novel by Cesare Pavese.
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The novel was set a short distance from her home town of Asti, in Northwest Italy. "I started with this book, and then shortly I realized that I wanted to search for my own traces," says Capra.
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The items are given no contextualizing information, leaving the viewer to gather their own impressions.
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"It was really interesting to try to see something that's really close to you, but to see it from the outside. Just to see these things with other eyes."
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Even Capra's parents don't necessarily "get" the project. “They see the pictures and say, ‘That’s not beautiful, why did you take a picture of that? You should take a picture of nice things, like a beautiful landscape or beautiful people,’” Capra says.
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"I tried to keep a kind of distance from my parents, and I tried to be as much as i could really general and neutral," says Capra. "It’s telling something about their personality."
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Capra says that although the subjects of the photos in the series aren't things you would likely notice otherwise, they have an ability to create strong impressions on the viewer.
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A picture of Giovanna and Mario was taken in front of a poster of Venice that Capra ordered online and framed.
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The previous picture of Venice creates an arc with a photograph from the couple's honeymoon.
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Made up of still lifes, portraits, and landscapes, the book traces the day-to-day lives and trappings of Giovanna and Mario Capra, now married for 40 years.
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"I’m most interested in things that are not so special, but that are full of meanings," says Capra.
