Irene Fenara: From Polaroid to Surveillance Cameras

Irene Fenara (b. 1990, Bologna) investigates visibility and image-making through Polaroid and surveillance cameras. In a virtual studio visit with Treti Galaxie, she discusses her series 'Studio' (2013), where she photographed empty studio walls with Polaroid film, revealing temperature through color shifts. Her work 'Termia' continued this exploration. 'Ho preso le distanze' (2013), shown at Osservatorio Prada in Milan, measured emotional proximity by photographing friends and family and recording distances. Fenara later turned to surveillance cameras, accessing private feeds through default passwords. Her series 'Self Portrait from Surveillance Camera' (2018-2019) features her standing in front of these cameras, wearing the same coat and hairstyle to become a unit of measure. Works like 'Struggle for life' and '21st Century Bird Watching' (2016) highlight unintended aesthetic moments. 'Three thousand tigers' uses a generative AI trained on only 3,000 tiger images (matching the number of living tigers), producing abstract visions translated into tapestries made in India. Fenara's practice blurs boundaries between public and private, digital and physical.