Piero Percoco
Photographer | PIERO PERCOCO
Bari, Italy
BIO
PiEro Percoco was born in December 1987. He grew up in Sannicandro of Bari,Italy, but spent a lot of time in Venezuela during his childhood. In 2010 he enrolled in a Forest and Environmental Science university programme, he dropped out of the course after 2 years. That same year, he shot a photograph of a lightning from a bridge after spending hours waiting. At the beginning of 2019 he will be exhibited at Photo Wien 2019 via Viennese gallery, Gallery OstLicht.
Each person has a different life story, including experiences, results and trauma. Does each of your model's personal stories attract you and make you portray? Or is there a trait d'union, a more general essence / atmosphere that connects them all?
I think it's a general kind of atmosphere, being in action on an unconscious level. I believe it's due to how each person lives their own life, in childhood, adolescence and as becoming adults. As an example, my life is closely connected to what I photograph, whether things or people, there is a reason if I take a picture of that one person instead of another.
Art can be intentional, well thought out and calculated, or more spontaneous, dynamic, improvised - it is simply more unconscious. What is the role of improvisation in your creative process?
It's all, total, this also explains my complete denial in starting a photographic project is all entrusted to chance and improvisation.
Artists use art as a way to tell or express something, be it personal, for what surrounds them, or simply to explore the possibilities of creating images and aesthetics. Of all your series, which do you think has the strongest and most powerful message or the one that contains the most yourself?
I can't say what represents me most, I think my Instagram account is very descriptive and personal, my account has been public since 2013 and since then I have never stopped, I recommend scrolling back to the beginning in time and looking at what has been my path up to to date, there is my whole life and therefore representation of my work.
To what extent do you think photography can be used to cause social changes and act as a form of social activism?
I am reminded of the photo from 9/11, of the man falling from one of the towers, his white shirt that always seemed as if it was a straitjacket. It makes me think a lot about that moment, and then I think of all the details, the feeling that person had, we will never ever know. So yes a photo for me can certainly move consciousness.
What is beauty for you?
An over-ripened fruit on a tree in the height of summer with the sounds of cicadas.
What is the main difference for you between still images and moving images?
I love cinema, a lot.
In many of your images there is the presence of Christian icons or places, what is your relationship with religion?
I don't like organized religion in general, I strongly believe in nature and extraterrestrial life, as an entity, surely being in a forest gives me much more spiritual energy than being in a church.
As a self-taught photographer who has become a teacher over time, what do you think of photography schools? Would you recommend them to anyone who wants to approach photography?
Certainly compared to 8 years ago when I started (I never did any before because of the financial hardship experienced at home) I feel like saying that surely there is now much more choice. For example, the Spazio Tempo school in Bari where I work, there is so much artistic stimulation for the kids, that at almost each class, I let them know how very lucky they are and that they must make the most of every possibility that comes forward, I wish I had been in their place! Or maybe not? Things happen for a reason.
The skillful use of colors is dominant in your series of images, have you ever thought about leaving this comfort zone and testing yourself with black and white?
It is not a comfort zone.
From seeing my work, you couldn't really tell, but I love black and white photography, more than color photography, but it just doesn't come naturally to me, and therefore goes against my philosophy. On my website there is a delusional series in black and white, built over the years
INTERVIEW
BY
NIKI GENCHI