ABOUT A BOY

ABOUT A BOY


CREDITS

GUP Author

GUP TEAM


Artist

Claudio Menna

Artist Website

claudiomenna.wixsite.com

G. is a special boy, but his story is one like many others.

Italian documentary photographer Claudio Menna (1985, Naples) embeds himself in the extraordinary life of a boy referred to only as ‘G.’ who he encountered at an institute for those with visual and psychophysical pathologies. Menna describes the complexity of G.’s condition, which has him living his life like a colour palette: on one day, he may wake up in blue and yellow, red and green, feeling happy with singing and dancing; on the next day, he may wake up in greys and blacks, feeling sad, aggressive and violent.

Menna creates a sporadic narration, capturing the world of G. and experiencing his daily life in bursts of energy and colour juxtaposed with lingering pauses and deep shadows. The visual stimulus that confronts the subject on a daily basis is emulated in Menno’s saturated imagery. The series follows a life that is in constant motion, an oppressed and compressed happiness that sometimes explodes in all its inner richness. It is this world that sparks interest due to the lack of familiarity and a lack of understanding, yet there is a sense those immersed within it are trying to escape from it.