Patrizia Bonanzinga
During her university studies where she obtains a degree in Mathematics, Patrizia Bonanzinga discovers her passion for photography. She has worked in several fields including education, training and scientific research (more info →). She used to live in Mexico, in Algeria, in USA, in France, in China and in Belgium. It's in Beijing (1995-1998) where she focuses her work in photography, dedicating to this country several projects.
Her photos are included in the collections of the National Gallery of Modern Art of Rome, the MAXXI National Museum of Arts of XXI century of Rome, the Moscow House of Photography, part of the Multimedia Art Museum of Moscow, the Training and Documentation Centre Ricardo Rangel of Maputo (Mozambique), the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affair, the Bracco Foundation in Milan and also in private collections.
Among others, she has carried out projects for: Hermès (Paris), National Gallery of Modern Art (Rome), Palace of Exposition (Rome), FAI (Rome), UNICRI (Turin), Italian Cooperation (Rome), Ministry of Justice (Maputo), Embassy of Spain (Rome), Matteo Thun & Partnes (Milan), The Living Chapel Project, Inspired Harmony, (Connecticut, USA), System of Museums Medaniene (Valle dell'Aniene, Rome).
May 2003, she's the curator of three exhibitions at the gallery Officina Arte al Borghetto within the framework of the FotoGrafia, 2nd International Festival of Photography, Rome, Italy: Made in China from Rhodri Jones, Shi Ma? from Bertrand Meunier, Chinese collectivities from Gao Brothers, Han Lei, Tie Uing, Zhang Da Li and Xing Danwen.
May 2013, during the third edition of MIA (Milan Image Art Fair), she was among the finalists of CODICE MIA, portfolio lecture; reviewers: Paolo Agliardi e Massimo Buffetti (collectors and founders of CAP, Contemporary Art Project, Milan), Anna Rosa e Giovanni Cotroneo (collectors, Rome), Lisa K. Erf (director JP Morgan Chase Art Collection, New York), Catherine Borissoff and Marianna Sardarova (art advisors and collectors, Moscow).
On June 2014, she got more votes on Online “Prize Combat” in the Photography category. On November 2014, she won the Photissima — Art Fair & Festival 2014 — Time Out, Turin, Italy. On May 2015, she won the “Premio Ora” Award, San Donà di Piave, Venice, Italy. On September 2015, she is among the finalists of Critical Mass Prize, Photolucida, Portland, Oregon, USA. On July 2019, she is among the finalists of the International IPA Price — International Psychoanalytical Association.
In November 2018, she was invited to join the Association Donne Fotografe (ADF), Italian Women Photographers' Association, in July 2019, she was elected Vice-President of the Association.
In March 2021, together with other photographers of ADF, she organized and participated in several evenning of online meeting with FIAF clubs (circle of Palamrino Palmanova, Udine; circle of Carrara; circle of La Ghiacciaia Marengo di Mammirolo, Mantoue; circle of Invertigo, Como; Delegation of Umbria). In may 2021, the same group of ADF photographer participated in an online workshop with the Vivere Donna anti-violence center in Carpi, Modena.
She used to hold courses at University, for more than ten years she collaborated on the magazine Fotografia Reflex, she writes essays and articles on specialized magazines.
She develops her work on two different levels: on the one hand, she travels to sensitive areas, with a clear intent to convey a message, using the analogical classic technique; on the other, she questions the relationship between photography and reality by building medium-format digital photos where she dissects and reassembles her images, forging yet another, different kind of reality.
In October 2014, after many years living in Brussels, she returns to live in Rome.
Group exhibitions
June 24th-July 10th 2022 The Spring of African Women, Cloister of San Nicolò, 65th Festival dei Due Mondi, Spoleto, Italy
May 13th-28th 2022 Scolpite, Associazione Donne Fotografe - Italian Women Photographers' Association, Quadriportico dell'Archiginnasio Bologna, Italia
May 7th-29th 2022 Contemplazioni e Smarrimenti Attraverso lo Sguardo di 30 Fotografe ADF, Off 2022, Riaperture FotoFestival Ferrara, Italia
March 8th-18th 2022 Invisibile, Associazione Donne Fotografe - Italian Women Photographers' Association, Department humanities-philosophy, University of Macerata, Italy
October 10th 2021 Time Lag, Castelnuovo Fotografia, 9th Edition, Castelnuovo di Porto, Rome, Italy
July 14th-September 5th 2021 Scolpite, Associazione Donne Fotografe - Italian Women Photographers' Association, Palazzo Reale, Milano, Italy
July 2th 2021 Donne Per... Un Mondo da Scoprire, Spoleto Festival dei due Mondi, 64th Edition, June 25th-July 11th 2021 (video), Italy
May 27th-June 13th 2021 Scolpite, Associazione Donne Fotografe - Italian Women Photographers' Association, Palazzo Facchi, as part of the Brescia Photo Festival 2021, Italy
18 April 2021 Siamo in cammino verso una post-avanguardia ? (Are we on the way to a post avant-garde?), speech at the PHES+IVAL - Festival Virtuale, Italy
June 22th-June 21th 2020 reopening of Invisibile, Associazione Donne Fotografe - Italian Women Photographers' Association, Church of Sant'Agostino, Pietrasanta (Lucca), Italy
May 15th-16th-17th 2020 Forme della Natura, virtual participation (video) in the 10th Festival del Verde e del Paesaggio, Italy
March 7th 2020 causes lockdown opening and closing of Invisibile, Associazione Donne Fotografe - Italian Women Photographers' Association, Church of Sant'Agostino, Pietrasanta (Lucca), Italy
November 16th-29th 2019 Invisibile Associazione Donne Fotografe - Italian Women Photographers' Association, Quadriportico dell'Archiginnasio, Bologna, Italy
September 25th-October 26th 2019 Scintille, duo with the artist Renata Rampazzi, Galleria Borghini Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Italy
September 13th-15th 2019 Invisibile Associazione Donne Fotografe - Italian Women Photographers' Association, 19th Edition Festival Filosofia, Complesso San Paolo, Modena, Italy
May 21st-26th 2019 participation in the workshop of Marzia Gandini In and Out, MACRO Asilo, Rome, Italy
July 2018 Time Lag, 1st Edition GroFest, Festival di Fotografia, Cassero, Grosseto, Italy
May 16th-June 7th 2018 Risonanze, Palazzo Ricci Paracciani, Roma, Italy
March 2018 L'Art pour l'Accueil, Châtelain 18, Brussels, Belgium
January 2017 Pubbliche intimità, Galleria Passaggi Arte Contemporanea, Bologna, Italy
October 6th-9th 2016 Internet Festival, Pisa, Italy
July 2nd-September 25th 2016 Time Lines, video Time Lag, Fondation Manuel Rivera-Ortiz, on the occasion of Les Rencontres de la Photographie d'Arles, France
January 2016 L'Art pour l'Accueil, Châtelain 18, Brussels, Belgium
May-October 2015 We & Women from Africa, projection, Expo Milano 2015, Me & We - Women for Expo, Milan, Italy
May 15th-18th 2015 RomArt, 1st Edition International Biennal of Art and Culture
January 2015 L'Art pour l'Accueil, Châtelain 18, Brussels, Belgium
November 2014 Photissima, Foto Festival, Turin, Italy
September 2014 Time Lag, 9th Edition Con-Vivere Carrara Festival, Carrara, Italy
May 23rd-25th 2014 Proposta, MIA (Milan Image Art) Fair (Milan Art Fair), Italy
April 6th-23rd 2014 Time Lag, projection, Festival A Língua Toda, Diáspora: a memória consentida, Videolab group, Coimbra, Portugal
January 2014 L'Art pour l'Accueil, Châtelain 18, Brussels, Belgium
September 2012-January 2013 Women's Roundabout, Artiscope Contemporary Art Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
September 14th-23rd 2012 Time Lag video, 7th edition Festival Dockanema, Maputo, Mozambique
June-August 2012 Time Lag video and exhibition, Corigliano Calabro Fotografia 2012, Corigliano Calabro, Italy
March-May 2012 Power of Water, East Meets West Gallery, Polytechnical Museum, Moscow, Russia
December 2011-March 2012 Sospensioni, duo with the artist Renata Rampazzi, Il Frantoio Gallery, Capalbio, Italy
August-September 2011 Planet Watch, 4th edition, Il Frantoio Gallery, Capalbio, Italy
March 2011 China in My Eyes, photo exhibition of Female Diplomatic Envoys and Wives of Diplomatic Envoys in China, Capital Museum, Beijing, China
December 2010-March 2011 Cantiere d'Autore, in MAXXI Musée Rome: Zaha Hadid à Rome, CIVA International Center for the City, Architecture and Landscape, Brussels, Belgium
November 2007-March 2008 MAXXI Cantiere d'Autore, Racconto fotografico, MAXXI National Museum of Arts of XXI century, Rome, Italy
October 2007 La Trasparenza, Impronta Gallery, Rome, Italy
June-July 2007 Ritrovi, Fotografia Firenze Florian 2007, Caffé Florian, Florence, Italy
April-August 2007 Lavori in Corso: il Palazzo, FotoGrafia, 6th International Festival of Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy
April 2007 L'Opera Guardante, Impronta Gallery, Rome, Italy
September 2006 Field of Vision, New Art Project, 798 Art District, Beijing, China
April-May 2006 The Road to Coal, 6th International Month of Photography, Bogolubov's Library of Arts, Moscow, Russia
July 2005 Ritrovi, inside the show urban Roaming, on the occasion of Les Rencontres d'Arles, Atelier François Seigneur and Sylvie de La Dure, Arles, France
May 2005 The Road to Coal, projection, FotoGrafia, 4th International Festival of Rome, Museum of Rome in Trastevere, Rome, Italy
September-December 2004 6Communities, Alice Austen House Museum, Staten Island, New York City, USA
July 2004 Chez Sylvie - Chez les Chinois, on the occasion of Les Rencontres d'Arles, Atelier François Seigneur and Sylvie de La Dure, Arles, France
June 2002 Ritrovi, FotoGrafia, 1st International Festival of Rome, Stazione Termini, Rome, Italy
Solo exhibitions
October 8th-December 3rd 2016 Spazi di Relazione, Galleria Passaggi Arte Contemporanea, Pisa, Italy
October 12th-25th 2014 Forme della Natura, AOC F58, Galleria Bruno Lisi, Rome, Italy
November 2011-January 2012 Time Lag, Italian Cultural Institute, Paris, France
December 2010-January 2011 Interior Fujian, Roots Contemporary Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
June-July 2010 My Best of Italy, Italian Cultural Institute, Beijing, China
May 2010 My Best of Italy, Cultural Center, Italian District, Tianjin, China
May 2009 The Other Kids, L'Altra Infanzia, A Outra Infância, Chissano Center, Maputo, Mozambique
October 2007 My Best of Italy, Italian Cultural Institute, Brussels, Belgium
April-July 2007 My Best of Italy, Porto America's Cup, Valencia, Spain
March-April 2007 Ritrovi, digital work planned and realised with the photographer Pietro Mari, National Museum of Modern Art Carlos Mérida, Guatemala City, Guatemala
December 2006-January 2007 The Road To Coal, Italian Cultural Institut, Cracow, Poland
November 2006-November 2010 Lavori in Corso: La Galleria, photographic installation, National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome, Italy
October 2006 The Road To Coal, Railway Central Station, Prato, Italy
May 2005 Cina Senza Tempo, Hutong Gallery, Rome, Italy
April-May 2005 The Road To Coal, AEM Energy House, Milan, Italy
November 2004 Ritrovi, Polytechnic, Valentino Castle, Faculty of Architecture, Turin, Italy
October-December 2004 The Road To Coal, National Center of the Photography, Padova, Italy
December 2003 Sui Confini, Zadig Gallery, Rome, Italy
September 2003 Permanenze a Pechino, Impronta Gallery, Rome, Italy
July 2001 Beijing Reinvent Itself, Atelier François Seigneur and Sylvie de La Dure, in occasion of Les Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, France
May 2001 An Italian Gaze on Beijing, Italian Cultural Institute, Marseille, France
June-July 1999 Raccontare Pechino, for the “Sipari” of the National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome, Italy
January 1997 On the borders: minorities'life in South-Western, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
Publications
October-December 2016
Spazi di Relazione, Galleria Passaggi Arte Contemporanea, Pisa, Italy.
2013
Women's Roundabout, Artiscope, Brussels, Belgium.
2012
collaboration à Finzioni e Mondi Possibili - per una sociologia dell'immaginario, Marina D'Amato, Libreria Universitaria, Padova, Italie
[ pdf / il testo di patrizia bonanzinga ].
May 2011
Time Lag, Damiani publiser, Bologna, Italy.
2010
collaboration with Cantiere d'Autore, Racconto Fotografico, MAXXI Architettura Fotografia, Electa publisher, Milan, Italy.
Maggio 2010
collaboration with MAXXI Architettura Fotografia. Le Collezioni, from Francesca Fabiani, Electa publisher, Milan, Italy.
May 2009
L'Altra Infanzia, The Other Kids, A Outra Infância, commission from UNICRI (United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute), Turin, Italy. The book is included inside the communication project to support the programme Strengthening Juvenil Justice in Mozambique. The DVD and the exhibition are also part of the project.
March 2007
Ritrovi, with Pietro Mari, Maschietto publisher, Florence, Italy.
2007
Questione Italiana, FotoGrafia 2007, Zoneattive Edizioni, Roma, Italy.
September 2004
The Road to Coal, Hopefulmonster publisher, Turin, Italy.
2004
collaboration with Beijing 798, Timezone8 + Thinking Hands, Beijing, China.
2002
FotoGrafia 2002, 1st International Festival of Rome, Bruno Mondadori, Milan, Italy.
1997
collaboration with La Grammaire de l'Objet chinois, Michel Culas, L'Amateur publisher, Paris, France.
1997-2002
editorial for Marie Claire Italy, Class, L'Espresso, DS France, Frigidaire.