PANDEMIC STAINS a photographic journey in ULTRAVIOLET

THE PROJECT

Feb. 2020: before numbers went out of control, we worked on assignment for magazines on what would have been the prelude to hard lockdown across the country. We didn’t knew how to represent something invisible. Hence the idea of studying forensic approaches for traces with ultra-violet and pro tools.

Apr. 2020: when Covid-19 was already widespread in Milano, Lombardia and Italy, infecting and killing and infecting hundred-thousands, we were using a rented forensic professional 10-spectrum light, shared with only 6-7 Italian forensic corps. Highlighting biological stains and phosphorus- containing materials, we shows hidden sides of the first live-streamed & hyper-documented pandemic of this century.

This pictures shows what we all live daily, but the human eye could not see.

"The collection of photographs, taken with Ultraviolet Light" - writes Dr. Silvia Garavaglia (Surgeon & Specialist in Infectious Diseases) for the preface of the book - “allows to highlight to the naked eye traces of biological liquids, usually transparent and, therefore, to bring out the surfaces potentially contaminated by viruses, bacteria or molds that can be pathogenic for humans in daily familiar environments. [....] I am sure after having had the opportunity to see the objects around us (mobile phone, keys, doors ) through the filter of ultraviolet rays, reality will appear in somehowdifferent from appearances, thinking twice to small but important habits like what to touch with your hands and what not to, especially in absence of disinfectants, which have now become commonplace in all our lives.”

THE BOOK

The aim of this campaign is to print and, with your help, self-publish the book of Pandemic Stains containing pictures taken under the first lockdown and with new pictures we’re producing now in autumn & winter 2020. The volume, curated by graphic designer Roberta Donatini, willbe printed with the technical sponsorship of PressPoint Milano and out/shipped worldwide by mid 2021.

BOOK TECHNICAL INFO 

• Edition: 350 copies
  
• Number of pages: 64
  
• Size (when folded): 20 x 27 cm;
  
• Soft-cover with sewn binding
  
• Paper: Fedrigoni XPER premium white
  
• CMYK + 2 Pantoni
  
• Cover + one page inside, printed with fluo-reaction UV inks
  

METHODOLOGHY
Our photographic approach is rigorous and slow. We use color filters, tripods & minutes long exposures to shoot pictures taken in the dark. We looked with new eyes to objects, private, public and work places of our daily life and relating them with typologies of things/places highlighted by international scientific community as potentially infective.
Usually we try to be as non-intrusive as possible creating out stories and reportages. This time, instead, our workflow made us look like ghostbusters moving around an empty night-scape, specially in the first month of the work. It’s been a weird technical challenge, we now enjoy a lot. 

ULTRA FLOWERS PRINTS WITH UV-INKS
This new fascinating technique intrigues us to the point of creating an aesthetic side-project: ULTRA FLOWERS.
We discovered new unexpected beauty hidden in flowers and plants. What usually is seen only by insects is now visible with ultra-violet.
We’re printing with special flu-reactions inks, capable to glow in the dark under a wood-light torch but showing new colors & surfaces under a white-light (phone).
Objects, this prints, to hang at home, showing invisible textures and alien-look shapes of rare beauty.
Prints of 4 different flowers are available.
CHOOSE YOUR PRINT OF UV-FLOWERS WITH MULTIPLE REWARDS & COMBOS!
Proceeds will found the production & printing of PANDEMIC STAINS the book, two exhibition modules and, after some amount of funds collected, covering the costs of production of new cycles of shootings, we hope, until mid/late 2021. We are open to evolve our approach side by side to new facets of this pandemic.



INFO REWARDS:
(Please, do not forget to indicate inside IdeaGinger purchase notes the nr. of the flower you would like to receive)
- 4 different floral subjects to choose from - Format 1 - big size print: 31 x 44,5 cm
- Format 2 - medium size print: 18 x 27 cm - Paper: Fedrigoni Old Mill, 300 gr

AUTHORS
My name is Pietro Baroni (Milano, 1977) and I hold a degree in Natural Science, carried out research projects in Tanzania and worked as geological and naturalistic guide in Iceland and

Morocco. I traveled in more than 40 countries around the world to collect and breathe human stories, working with numerous magazines.
Next step was shooting in cities and social issues through human beings and their expressions. My artistic research is focused on the search of the "self": how to build ourselves in the world, in the social and natural space that surrounds us. 

Body, identity and emotions are my keywords.
I currently work using photography, video, installations and mixed media. 

My name is Marco Casino (Caserta, 1986), cross-media documentary photographer & videographer specialized in mid and long term social reportages. In the last decade I covered stories in Italy, Europe, Africa and South America, often exploring unrepresented contemporary social issues with visual aesthetics standing at the intersection of humanist photography, contemporary technological innovations & the internet culture.
Some of my works appeared on leading national and international news outlets and media, awarded and granted by eminent institutions. I’ve been also one of scientific consultants for the first three series of the “Master of Photography”, TV show produced by Sky Arts Italy, Germany and UK. Brand ambassador & media creator for Leica Camera since 2012, I also cooperate time to time with creative agencies and brands worldwide on commercial assignments and developing new visual solutions.