Bomarzo is a strange sixteenth-century Italian Manierist garden in the province of Viterbo, in northern Lazio. Commonly known as Park of the Monsters (Parco dei Monstri), it confronts today’s visitors with an enigma.
The Garden of Bomarzo is a series of 95 black-and-white photographs taken during several visits between 1990 and 2004, and originally printed in 5.1 x 6.3 inch (13×16 cm) or 6.3 x 7.3 inch (16×18.5 cm) format.
I first discovered the Garden of Bomarzo in photography books. First, I came across the comprehensive edition of photographs of Bomarzo by Daniel Boudinet, published by Stil in 1978. Then I read a 1957 volume containing Pieyre Mandiargue’s text on Bomarzo and illustrated with Georges Glasberg’s photographs.
It wasn’t until 1991 that I made my first trip to Bomarzo. There followed some summer rambles around the site, the discovery of a locus populated with figures and artifacts more than a garden, … and disappointment. My disappointment was not with what I saw in front of me, but with the discrepancy between the photographic treatment I had encountered—the reason for my going there—and the perceptions and images that came to my mind on location. The chaos and the contorted bodies exploited in Pieyre de Mandiargues’ and Glasberg’s surrealist vision were a far cry from the reality. While I continued to have great respect for Daniel Boudinet’s attentive work, I saw it in a different light; then again, it is common knowledge that every work of photography is dated and soon enough becomes a document of another era. It shows the state of a place at a given point in time. This observation drove me to develop a personal pathway between documentation and poiesis.
I went from amazement to curiosity, then to taking up the challenge: a few black-and-white shots using a 4×5 inch view camera mounted on a tripod, allowing me to explore, observe, and experience this world through a working project, followed by commitment to developing a full series of photographs giving shape to a discovery, a vision, and an understanding of the place.
François Sagnes
François Sagnes, Le Jardin De Bomarzo
Published by Creaphis Editions
€38
