Say something about yourself?

I’m an Italian photographer ( Trieste 1987 ) who lives and works in a small town called Staranzano, in the northeastern Italy. After a short period of study at Spazio Labò in Bologna, I worked with artists such as Massimo Mastrorillo and Federico Clavarino.

In addition, I attended several workshops with Antonio Xoubanova,Ricardo Cases, Anouk Kruithof, Jason Fulford, Max Pinckers, Milo Montelli, Fosi Vegue, Michele Tagliaferri, Martin Kollar and Aleix Plademunt. In 2017, I received the Slideluck Gazebook Jason Fulford Award and I was shortlisted for the FUAM Dummy Book award.

In 2019 I published my first book “Sinking Stone” with the Italian publishing house Witty Books; in 2020, instead, I published my second book “Mélaina Cholé” (the series that I am presenting) with the American publishing house Yoffy Press.

  

What’s this series?

Mélaina Cholé from Ancient Greek μέλας (melas), and χολή (kholé), it is a photographic research on the study of humoral theory conceived by Hippocrates. Volk, in particular, focuses on black bile, described as cold and dry fluid, generated by the archetype of the earth. In fact, within the series, we find images of the planet earth seen from space, of human cells, and of people faces following the theory of the physiognomy of time. The ideas of Hippocrates continued to be dominant, being abandoned only in the mid-nineteenth century. Extensive traces of this hegemony survive in modern language: the heart of a person who is a “breath of life”; Melancholia is a feeling of sadness but also a serious form of depression. The same depression that, according to recent studies, will be the most common disease in the world in 2030.

     

What do you want to tell the audience about this work?

Mélaina Cholé is above all a personal project: I have suffered from depression for a long time and am still trying to heal today. And, in order to extend or at least complete my personal story, I summoned Hippocrates and humoral theory. The earth seen from space, the cells of the human body or even the faces of strangers, I interpreted the humoralism in my own way and here I give my definition of melancholy. It is a feeling of sadness, but also a serious form of depression. This series allowed me to express myself freely, with passion and emotion. Is photography a healing tool? Difficult to evaluate, but what I tried to do is treat depression with poetry.

Any news or updates?

This project has just come out in book form.You can find it in pre-sale these days on this site:

https://www.yoffypress.com/volk