Torbola 31

Torbola 31 is part of an applied research project exploring a new hybrid process between photocopying and photography. By combining a large-format lens and mirrors with a laser printer, I transform what is usually a reproduction machine into an image-making tool, with its own particularities and limitations. Each image is printed directly onto A4 paper, bypassing any digital interface, much like a Polaroid. As a photographer born during the rise of the digital technology, reconnecting with a physical and sensory approach to photography feels essential. For this project, I carried my equipment on a trailer attached to a bicycle, pedaling up and down the Verzasca Valley in Switzerland. This performative approach pays homage to early mountain photographers who carried heavy wet-plate cameras to capture the peaks. With Torbola 31, I aim to explore a new understanding of the sublime grounded in a playful, raw and tactile approach. Abstraction becomes a form of resistance to the traditional, romantizised vision of alpine landscapes. The technical restrictions of shooting with a printer become creatives opportunities. Thus, the movement of the scanner replaces the shutter of the camera, I can reprint over the same sheet with altered setting, and I can also play with scale by placing object (such a little stones found on the path) on the scanner glass to intervene directly in the image. The resulting images defy expectations and invite a playful reimagining of the Verzasca valley.