Giovanni Gastel: Metamorphosis, Photography, and the Animal Virtue of Elegance

In a wide-ranging interview, photographer Giovanni Gastel discusses his series 'Metamorfosi,' which depicts hybrid female-animal figures such as the woman-butterfly, woman-swan, and woman-tree. Gastel, born in Milan in 1955, is president of AFIP International and recently launched the magazine 'FC – Fotografia e (è) cultura,' now in its second issue. He describes elegance as 'an animal virtue, not a cultural achievement,' a concept he explored in his 2016 autobiography 'Un eterno istante. La mia vita' (Mondadori). The interview, conducted by Stefania Gaudiosi in Gastel's studio on Via Tortona in Milan, delves into photography's power to transform reality and reveal the invisible. Gastel reflects on the paradox of photography: it freezes time unnaturally yet allows us to see the distant and the self. He quotes John Berger and Roland Barthes, and his poetry collection 'Io sono una pianta rampicante' (SilvanaEditoriale, 2018) is referenced. The conversation also touches on the role of photography in contemporary culture as the elective language of the present. The interview is part of the 'L'arte è un delfino' series on Artribune.