Tiziana Dipietro: about stories and photographs of Sicily with the language of emotions
Tiziana Dipietro, lawyer by profession, photographer by passion. She grew up in Cefalù and now lives in Palermo. Her love for photography came about when she was a child, but it is as an adult that it acquires a new dimension. Through streetphotography images, the artist tells stories, tells emotions, tells lives, the lives of her land, Sicily, that seduces and is loved. The greatest success arrived with her solo exhibition ‘Silenzi dell’anima,’ held this summer at the Ottagono Santa Caterina in Cefalù and later in Gangi, where the photographer told the most hidden face of the island. Sicilian Secrets interviewed her.
Q: Tiziana Dipietro and photography: how did this passion come about?
A: My passion came about when I was a child. I have always been fascinated by the possibility of imprinting a moment in memory through photography. Since I was a little girl, I used to take my camera with me on outings, picnics, birthday parties. Every moment was an opportunity to look around and take pictures. Over time my vision has broadened, and now I photograph not only friends and relatives but also ordinary people who feel like telling their stories and do so by showing themselves to my lens.
Q: Through your shots you tell the story of Sicily, what is your real source of inspiration to express your art?
A: Through photography I tell about my land, a land often not understood, but in which I see so much beauty. I like to get lost in the alleys of my city, away from the shop windows of the center and look for the essence of the people who live there. I like to tour the most hidden villages of the Sicilian hinterland, where time seems to have stopped, but where there are still lives and there are stories.
Q: Is there a place on the island or a detail of it that has a special meaning for you and that perhaps you have told precisely through your photos?
A: If I had to choose the place in my land that moves me the most, I would definitely say Cefalù, where I grew up and where I really feel at home. There are my sweetest memories, made of lightheartedness and smiles. And it is there that I return whenever melancholy takes hold of me, I just look at my sea to feel better.
Q: Lawyer and photographer, how do you combine your two souls? Do you think they have something in common?
A: Indeed, the photographer and the lawyer are not such distant realities. In both cases, at least with the kind of photography I do, you are dealing with people’s lives, and in both cases you need a good deal of sensitivity. On my work, another person’s life depends; at that moment they are giving themselves to me, at that moment they have no more reserves, just like a subject in front of the lens. The common element is the emotion with which I approach people’s lives.
Q: Your motto is ‘Eyes, head, heart’. Can you tell us what it means?
A: Tiziana Dipietro is like this: eyes, head, heart. I am ‘eyes’ to look at what surrounds me and fall in love with beauty, I am ‘heart’ because I live on emotions, the ones I want to convey through my photography. And I am ‘head’ that I never lose and that is full of thoughts, projects, will to do.
Q: Is there a place in Sicily where you would like to go and shoot that you still miss?
A: I have visited many places in Sicily, more and less known, but there are still many that I want to tell through my shots, especially the most remote and hidden who knows where.
Q: You were featured in an exhibition in Cefalù this summer, what are the upcoming events where you can see your photos?
A: The exhibition ‘Silences of the Soul’ that I presented this summer was my first solo show, and to experience it was crazy. To meet people who fell in love with my works, who appreciated the essence of them was a great satisfaction, but most of all a great emotion.
Q: Is there a professional dream related to photography that you keep in your drawer
A: I would like to make a photography book, to bring the viewer into my world. Plans for the future? Always! As I said before, my mind never stops, but until they are realized I prefer to remain cautious.
Q: And finally, is there an anecdote or story that you would like to share with readers relative to one of your shots?
A: Every photo has a story, because the most beautiful thing about the way I see and experience photography is the relationship I establish with the subject who almost always tells me something about himself or herself either in words or simply with a look. Certainly one of the most exciting moments occurred in Ucria, when I was photographing an old lady on the doorstep. The lady let me into her house and turned on the light even though she was blind. She lived alone and was cooking. Photography is made of this, of small gestures, of moments that fill your heart. It is an exchange that lasts forever.
