SEEN BY: PETRA VALENTI
On the occasion of the second publication of “Peruffo Jewelry Seen by”, we are glad to publish the pictures of young photographer Petra Valenti, in collaboration with MUA Serena Congiu. An intriguing work focused on the defeat of the aesthetic rivalry between masculine and feminine, on physicality and the social impact of gender that is firmly anchored in a distant past, Ancient Egypt’s one.
Petra Valenti tells us about her inspiration for her shots:
“I was fascinated by the idea of trying to interpret a jewel, an element which is normally associated with feminine aesthetics, on a strongly masculine physicality, like the model’s one.
Serena Congiu and I tried to emphasize his masculinity through the use of makeup, underlining – without stress – the feminine side which is hidden inside every man; equally, we didn’t want to distort his being a man, but instead emancipating it, because there is no man without a woman…
At the same time, through the exercise of the tights and its distorting effect, what we wanted to convey is that the portrayed subject becomes a hybrid, a perfect balance of masculine and feminine elements where the meeting point is the jewel itself and the model’s gender becomes less important.
Beyond gender there are people and their qualities, which should get together harmoniously without cannibalizing one another but supporting and enhancing each other, just like ancient civilizations teach us.”
Petra Valenti was born in 1988. She started her career as concerts and music editorial photographer in 2007 in London, where she lived until 2014. Among her many publications we can mention: The Guardian, Vice, i-D, Live Magazine, Carhartt. In 2014 she started an intense collaboration with the collective Cesura, that will lead her to deal with independent publishing curating the Cesura Publish series. She lives and works between Milan and London where she is developing a long-term project about Cockney language.
Serena Congiu
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