Italo Zannier - Signs of shadow

Signs of shadow

"One may start with an everyday occurrence: a poet could turn the dropping of a handkerchief into a lever which could enable him to lift the world..." thus suggested Tzara to the surrealist poets,encouraging them to explore" the labyrinth of the instinct,of vital energies". Photographers, too,followed this suggestion, Man Ray among the first. Adriana Argalia's photography, in turn, resonates with this sublime quality, and through her lens the ordinary becomes extraordinary and poetic. She confers moods and emotions upon everyday subjects or scenes which she captures in a mystery of shadows reflexes contrasting geometries…Whether densely coalescing, flowing or superimposed, these signs bear an intensity reminiscent of classic auteurs, such as Czech photographer Josef Sudek.

Italo Zannier
Critic and photographic historiographer

August 1984