Shortlisted photographers 2012 – Olga Cafiero
“At the heart of a Renaissance cabinet of curiosities is the collector himself, who collects in an encyclopaedic manner, and according to his own criteria, heterogeneous objects that he later organises according to his tastes, interests and passions. This is a subjective process, resulting in the reproduction of a personal and often magical world. I choose to assemble images of extraordinary and disquieting animals, portraits of ambiguous temporality and contemporary machines that amazingly resemble decors from the past. In my work, I question the professional practice of photography – architecture, still-life and scientific – material that I then use for building my collection and which I seek to reshape by seeking a form, a style of presentation. The choice of my subjects is mainly dictated by fascination and curiosity: once I am in front of my images, I look for their underlying tensions by linking contrasting subjects in order to arouse the reader’s curiosity and to intrigue him.”
Olga Cafiero (Switzerland) graduated from the École Cantonale de Lausanne in 2011. In the same year she won a Swiss Federal Design Award. Olga Cafiero lives and works in Lausanne.
