© Valentino Bellini from 'La Mancha Urbana'

Where have you grown up? Was there a catalyst or distinctive experience that pushed you down a photographic path?

Valentino Bellini (VB): I was born and raised in Palermo, Sicily, a rather complex environment from a social point of view, which allowed me from an early age to deal with realities very different from my family. The city undoubtedly influenced my desire to discover the world and let myself be changed by what was distant from my cultural background. The catalyst that pushed me to begin my artistic experience, in addition to this initial stimulus, was that my father was a great photography enthusiast, a medium he used for personal family purposes and work in botanical research. I literally grew up around cameras and darkrooms.

Tell us a little about your educational background and whether it has influenced your journey Has anyone been instrumental in guiding your visual consciousness and practical evolution?

VB: In addition to my father, who encouraged me to embark on the path of photography, the period spent at LINKE lab in Milan was fundamental in my educational experience. The experiences made together with the other young colleagues of the studio, the possibility of meeting highly experienced photojournalists and documentary photographers who stopped by the studio every day to print, to give workshops, or even to spend time with us: all of this had a significant influence on me.

What are the themes that interest you, or generally yattracts your observation?

VB: My photography is rooted in documentary style, capturing the nuances of human interaction with the physical and social environment. Through my work, I explore the different forms of development of the body, from an aesthetic point of view as well as from a conceptual point of view, as well as the relationship of the human being with the environmental and social factors that modify it and of which man is an in turn modifier. I have been practicing photojournalism for a decade. Still, I feel the need to be more creatively free and interpretive in my work, moving away from strict documentation to embrace a more abstract approach to photography. However, I still maintain an interest in some of the most relevant social and environmental issues of our time, and this has also influenced my more recent work.

© Valentino Bellini from 'La Mancha Urbana'

I have always thought of the city as the maximum expression of the social and technological development of human beings. It is a highly complex system that manifests diverse branches of knowledge. I have been interested in the entire urban organism and its development since I was very young when I started playing for the first time the legendary video game SimCity (and I continue to “play” with powerful city simulators today). From there, my interest grew and led me to study urban and environmental planning at university. Over time, I learned about the city from a more academic point of view. When I started being a photographer, I changed the process I used to understand this important phenomenon.

© Valentino Bellini from 'La Mancha Urbana'

What is your approach to the medium? Do you privilege any camera or process in particular? How do you envision or conceptualize the projects?

VB: The medium is just a medium. I don’t favor cameras in particular. Depending on the type of project, it may make more sense to use one tool rather than another. I have always had a preference for analog photography. Analog photography was beneficial in my early career and in my first personal projects to develop a slower and more considered approach, saving me from the bulimic image production typical of the digital photography era. Lately, however, as in the last part of the 'La Mancha Urbana' project, I have had to abandon film for logistical and economic reasons. I have started using a medium-format digital camera kindly provided by Fujifilm Italia.

© Valentino Bellini from 'La Mancha Urbana'

Does research play any significant role in your practice? Do you dialogue with experts when developing your projects?

VB: In many of my projects, I like to include a scientific research phase developed together with other professionals in the scientific or academic field. In photographic projects with a documentary imprint, it is instrumental to offer the public a more complete picture of the dynamics addressed. Combining images and text is the most effective way to expose any complex concept, and I try to develop it in my projects when I can. This is less true for more abstract photography projects or those that want to avoid having a documentary nature. I prefer to use images more as metaphors for their power to suggest and stimulate different reactions.

Have you undertaken projects or tasks that required you to venture into unfamiliar territories, physically or emotionally?

VB: To grow in every sense, we must let ourselves be influenced by what is different and welcome it as a tool for reinterpreting our cultural background. Many, if not all, of my travels for photography projects have had profound meaning on a personal level. Probably the most critical one was the one that led me to visit various countries worldwide to develop my project on the trafficking and recycling of electronic waste.

© Vallentino Bellini from 'Bit rot'. Lahore, Pakistan.
In a bulk warehouse of used electronic components, printed circuit boards waiting to be processed.

© Vallentino Bellini from 'Bit rot'. Agbobloshie, Accra, Ghana.
One of the young boys working in Agbobloshie made the landfill his home; he has built a shelter made of different types of scraps and wastes. Most part of the people who work in Agbobloshie are from rural Northern Ghana. To work in Agbobloshie they have to leave their families and their homes.

© Vallentino Bellini from 'Bit rot'. Old Seelampur, New Delhi, India.
Old transistors boiling in metal pots. In this way, the plastic will melt and he will be able to gather the metallic parts and sell them. Most of the time, this technique is carried out in a yard or in private houses, just like in this case. The consequences are severe problems to the health of the worker; because of the toxic smoke produced by burning plastic 

Can you introduce the project 'La Mancha Urbana' and how it relates to your previous works?

VB: The 'La Mancha Urbana' series was born when I found myself living for a few months in Mexico City, and I encountered an urban dimension that I had never experienced firsthand, especially when coming from a small town I compared to the standards of the population of the large Latin American metropolises. Mexico City has about ten times the area and 36 times the population of Palermo, my hometown. Population density is one of the biggest challenges for the modern city. Experiencing this impressive city development and the consequent pressure on the surrounding natural environment, I decided to study the phenomenon more broadly in Latin America, trying to observe the aggression and the unscrupulous absorption of the natural environment caused by the continuous advancement of anthropization.

© Valentino Bellini from 'La Mancha Urbana' 

The idea of ​​the project is to document the current state of urban expansion in these metropolises to ask ourselves what future we are building in this sense, how often our way of occupying the planet is short-sighted and counterproductive, and what good practices could change direction and bring us on a more sustainable development path, especially for the environments that represent the home of our communities. It is one of those projects that perfectly reflect my inclination to document current and problematic aspects of the world and of our relationship as a human community with the natural environment that we live in and continually modify. I draw attention to this issue to contribute to the debate on urban transformations and possible alternative ways to pursue future development. In this sense, it connects with previous works that analyze the interaction between man and the environment and how both implement and undergo modifications.

© Valentino Bellini from 'La Mancha Urbana'

From an editorial point of view, what choices guided you in the selection of the final portfolio? What relevant takeaways have you achieved?

VB: I preferred images in which the contrast between the progress of anthropization/urbanization and the natural landscape was quite evident. Furthermore, I tried as much as possible to create landscapes in which there was no human presence (people) to focus all the attention on the nature of the landscape and its development/decline by human beings. One may wonder if what humans propose in many cases is a development. After all, most of these urbanizations lack the minimum necessary services and standards. Regarding my authorial practice, I have had the opportunity to experiment in a field such as landscape, which until now had remained secondary compared to other languages. Regarding the topic, I hope this project can stimulate reflection on our future as a species and on good practices to safeguard our planet for our development. 

© Valentino Bellini from 'La Mancha Urbana' 

Any interesting books that you recommend and that recently inspired?

VB: 'Machines and Robots' (Edition Digital Culture, Migros-Kulturprozent, Christoph Merian Verlag). It’s a book that explores the impact and implications of robotics, digitalization, and artificial intelligence on our daily lives. It delves into current research topics, their artistic potential, and possible problems related to these areas. Extremely interesting and actual.

How would you advise students embarking on their artistic journeys based on your experiences?

VB: Don’t let yourself be digested by trends, don’t seek approval from colleagues and “experts,” go your way and produce like a true outsider, and continually question yourself and your artistic production. In general, be aware that today, more than ever, this is a challenging profession with incredible competition and very often unhealthy and dishonest. Study new technologies and find a way to use them for your production.

Valentino Bellini (website)
Urbanautica Institute Awards 2022