BIO​
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Dafne Salis is an Italian artist and photographer based in Rome.
After graduating in photography from the London College of Communication in 2012, Salis has been working since then in the visual art field, both as an artist and as a freelance photographer. She founded Skin&Blister Collective in 2014 and was part of the Salis/Gut duo from 2013 till 2017. Salis was awarded distinction and received her MA at the Royal College of Art in 2018. She is currently a PhD candidate in the same institution, researching on gazing at women's sexual organ.
In 2020, she founded, with seven Italian artists, the art collective The Glorious Mothers, working on political stances and artistic representation of motherhood.
Her work has been exposed extensively both in Italy and abroad in venues such as the MACRO Museum, The Cripta of the Venerabile Collegio Inglese, Rome, The Dream Factory, Milan, Spilt Milk gallery, Edinburgh, Southwark park gallery, Photoworks Park gallery, Ugly Duck gallery, Photofusion, London.
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ARTIST STATEMENT
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Salis’ practice challenges gender representation within images, moving from symbolism to anatomy to myth and domestic environments. In her quest for challenging phallogocentric narratives and heteronormative representations, Salis embarks on a journey inside the eye. How the photographic gaze looks upon the general environment it sits within, and it is influenced and informed by it. How the relationship between who looks and what is looked upon explicates itself. Here photography it is not only a medium to create, but it is scrutinized in its ability to support and reiterate power dynamics. Salis’ interest resides in making visible photographic analogical gaze, the power relationships between the photographer and the model, the construction of the frame, the editing of the pictures, images’ contextualization up to the mental representation behind the picture. Salis aims at a caring gaze, respectful of the parts involved, in which recognition rather than identification is in place. For this reason, sometimes photographic device is enquired through other media, like performances, texts, sculpture, which substitute a specific part of the camera, unveiling how the photographic process contributes to create its images’ meanings and perspectives.
Salis is on a challenge to collect visual evidence of the invisibilisation and devaluing of the traditional feminine: the impossible-to-see vagina, the private house and affections, mutual caring, the experience of motherhood. Therefore, Salis’ body and of those closest to the artist are the cornerstones of the images enquiring personal relations within the family. Along with gender identities, Salis’ work resolves into landscape its interconnection with humans and how mutually interrelated our life is with our environment. Her methods involve the use of hyperboles, puns or demystification to solicit questions and multiple insights.
2'36'' single channeled video.
CONTACTS
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The Photogapher's Den. - via Pereira 12, Rome.
Instagram: @dafnesalis
X: @dafnesalis
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CV
SOLO SHOWS
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​2023 - The Erotic As Power, Cripta del Venerabile Collegio Inglese, Roma, IT.
2017 - La forza di rinascere, Dream Factory, Milan, It.
2016 - Locked In, Giardini di Vigna la Corte, San Felice Circeo, Latina, IT.
2016 - Locked In, The Tabernacle Gallery, London, UK.
2014 - Open Studios 33 Officina Creativa, Toffia, IT.
COLLECTIVE SHOWS
2024 - Narni Immaginaria, Circuito OFF, Narni (TR), Italy.
2022 - Cartography of Care, Spilt Milk Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland.
2022 - Unruly Encounters, Southwark Park Galleries, London, Uk.
2018 - Degree Show, Royal College of Art, London, UK.
2018 - Offprint, Tate Modern, London, Uk.
2018 - Photography Project Space, Royal College of Art, London, UK.
2017 - Make it Real, The Ugly Duck, London, UK.
2017 - One Night Stand, Doomed gallery, London, UK.
2017 - Fotografia Europea 2017, Circuito Off Online, Reggio Emilia, IT.
2017 - Work In Progress, Royal College of Art, London Uk.
2016 - Artemisia 2016, LaborART, Piedimulera, Verbania IT.
2016 - Skin & Blister Collective, Photofusion, London, UK.
2015 - Fotografia Europea 2015, Circuito Off Online, Reggio Emilia, IT.
2014 - Il mio Paradiso, MACRO, Rome, IT.
2014 - Future Identities Palazzo Albrizzi, Venice, IT.
2013 - A GREAT DEAL!!!' Performance Porta Portese Market, Rome, IT.
2012 - Light Headed Gallery 320, London, UK
2012 - Generators Accelerators Originators, LCC, London, UK.
2011 - The Third Factor Sassoon Gallery, London, UK.
2011 - Forum Arts #01 The Rebel Dog, London, UK
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AWARDS, RESIDENCIES, COMMISSIONS
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2024 - Recipient of Strategia Fotografia Award 2024. Awarded by Direzione Generale Creatività Contemporanea, Ministero della Cultura, IT.
2024 - Narni Immaginaria, selected for Stenopeico, Circuito OFF.
2024 - 'Dialogues toward a Manifesto', with the Glorious Mothers, Michelangelo Pistoletto Foundation, Biella, IT. Residency.
2023 - ‘Acquiferae’, with The Glorious Mothers, Castello Cabiaglio, Varese, IT. Residency.
2022 - Festival 'Contaminazioni, Echi Metropolitani della vita di Provincia, Spoleto, IT. Shortlisted.
2020 - Città dell'arte, Fondazione Michelangelo Pistoletto, Biella, IT. Residency.
2019 - On going - Artist Residency In Motherhood. Rome, IT. Residency curated by Lenka Clayton.
2018 - A+B=Love. Hackathon Ancona, IT. Winner.
2017 - Perlana For Woman. Social responsibility project commition for Perlana and Telefono Rosa.
2014 - 33 Officine Creative, Toffia, Rieti, IT. Residency.
2014 - Premio Adrenalina 2.0. Fourth classificate, young photography.
2013 - Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2013. First Round Selection Shortlisted. May 2013, London, UK.
2012 - The Third factor, Sassoon Gallery, UK. One week residency.
2009 - Excellent Work Award, the London College of Communication, awarded by Salvatore Arancio artist.
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PUBLICATIONS
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2022 - G. Blackshaw, S. Baluch, M. Fraser, N. Heidorn and R. Hermon (eds), I care by... (London: RCA Research Communiqués, 2022).
2022 - Salis, ‘Motherhood, dignity and care in productive work’. (FoMu Antwerp, BE: Trigger)
2021- G. Blackshow and S. Kivland (eds) CARE(LESS), A SUPPLEMENT TO ON CARE London: MA BIBLIOTEQUE.
2020 - Per Quando Torneremo, Ed. Il Cleb, Prato. Three poems.
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TALKS - TEACHING EXPERIENCES:
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2024 - Stitching Memories, in collaboration with Cristina Cusani, Napoli Photofestival, Naples, IT. Curated by Francesco Soranno.
2024 - Interdipendenza, Accademia di Spagna, Rome, IT for the Glorious Mothers. Curated by Ane Rodriguez Armendariz.
2024 - Interdipendenza, Accademia di Belle Arti, Rome, IT for The Glorious Mothers. Curated by L. Perilli.
2022 - Beast Mother, a cura di Grossi Maglioni, Albumarte gallery, Rome, IT. Symposium.
2022 - Unidee, Fondazione Michelangelo Pistoletto, Visiting Artist, Biella, IT.
2021 - Students presenting their work, Bath SPA, UK.
2019 - Open Studio, Arebyte Studios, London, UK.
2019 - Students presenting their work, The Camberwell College of Art, UAL, London, UK.
2016 - The benefits of working collectively, Photofusion, London, UK.
2016 - Working collectively: Then & now, Photofusion, London, UK.
2012 - Artists Talk at 33 Officina Creativa. Rieti, IT.
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EDUCATION
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2020 - On Going - PhD candidate at Royal College of Art.
2018 - MA Fine Arts, Royal College of Art, Distinction.
2012 - BA Photography, London College of Communication.