Sonia Mangiapane
Sonia Mangiapane is a photomedia artist working with processes defined primarily by their interaction with light, as opposed to the exclusive use of the camera. Employing a range of camera-based and cameraless methods her practice takes the form of photographic prints, cameraless or hybrid works on paper, moving image and other light-based interventions. Themes such as the tourist gaze, Nature and the underlying constructions of the photographic are the focus of her work.
Sonia's approach is discursive, process-oriented and experimental. The colour darkroom, in particular, is a core site of her practice. It’s a space in which she makes, rather than takes a photograph; pushing the boundaries of the photographic by undertaking conceptual and technical approaches which diverge from the snapshot.
Sonia was born and raised on unceded Bunurong country, and is the daughter of Italian immigrants. She lived and worked in the Netherlands from 2012-2024 and is currently based in Naarm/Melbourne.
Phone Photo (misaligned RGB channels)
Hybrid-process c-print (digital phone photograph with analogue print production + darkroom intervention), 2024.
Edition 1/1 (Unique)
127 x 112 cm
$2800
Mascot (I)
Analogue c-print (photograph with darkroom intervention) 2021.
Varied edition 1/2
90 x 76 cm
$1200
All of the work I'm submitting is handprinted in the colour darkroom using a combination of camera-based and cameraless methods. Each piece involves experimental processes, unconventional methods, abstract subject matter and attempts to resist easy categorisation. I guess it all feels out of place when considered from a photography-as-representation perspective; but that is where I find my joy. I hope you do too.