Mauro Fiorito
Mauro Fiorito
The Night Face Up
102 pages
Soft Cover
16.5 x 24 cm
2022
89 Books
About the Book:
The book is a seven years travel on my daylife, connected to an accident where I lost my mother. I play around this event with feelings and the figure of women in my life, traveling back to my childhood through the landscape where the memories have birth and where I was connected with my mother. Melancholy, sadness, joy meet, like a road trip with a romantic soundtrack.
Book review by Joe Cuccio |
Mauro Fiorito’s The Night Face Up is a reflection on the loss of his mother. He utilizes imagery that depicts seven years of travel through various places and creates photographs of the landscapes, the domestic spaces, and the women and men in his life. Some images are intense and others are peaceful, but overall it takes the viewer on a journey that throws us all over the map.
There is both a poetic and non-sequitur sequencing style that can be seen throughout. Intermixing black and white with colored photographs of what seems to be every inch of his life helps build this wild ride. Juxtaposing quiet landscapes with confronting flashed figures within a domestic space is one way we see the seemingly illogical sequence. We also gather a metaphorical insight into a loving relationship abruptly coming to an end through the positioning of a love-driven portrait of a woman with broken glass. Other images consume the full page spread and give us a sense of different places traveled through; these seem to be grounding moments in a book that takes the viewer all over the world.
The landscapes and domestic spaces ground us in various places, and the images of people showcase seemingly why the artist found himself moving to these places. The photographs of landscapes give us a sense of the more vast land that may be passed through or lived within. They allow us a vehicle to enter various domestic spaces that are much more intimate and consume the viewer differently. The women he showcases seem to be the people he is spending time with and connecting on a deep level with, and the depictions of men feel as if they are representations of himself as he travels from place to place.
The way the book was designed by publishing 89books is fitting for the imagery found throughout. The consistent edge-to-edge spreads are a nice way to hold together a variety of image styles. It provides the viewer with even weight on each image, even those that encompass the two-page spread because they are images that have no borders they are seemingly fit like puzzle pieces adding up to the whole piece of art.
Fiorito has said, “Melancholy, sadness, joy meet, like a road trip with a romantic soundtrack.” Upon hearing this quote from the artist, I was intrigued by the use of the word soundtrack. It begins to make more sense why this book is a mix of sequencing styles. Music and albums can twist and turn every which way, and this book does just that. This quote gives a deeper understanding into the intense images that are seen throughout, and the occasional loving image that taps us into a softer side of things. It conveys a deep complexity in the artist’s view of his relationship with his mother.
My overall impression of this book is that it cannot be fully understood with one passage through it. It demands attention to each image, each pairing, and the overall flow of the photographs throughout the sequence. After spending time with the book, I was able to grasp a deeper understanding of Fiorito’s feelings toward the loss of his mother. It is a complex conglomerate of emotions and reactions that he displays beautifully through the creation of this book.
