CCNY | Francesco Palombi | Mente Originaria / Original Mind | A CCNY Darkroom Residency solo exhibition

Mente Originaria / Original Mind, a solo exhibition by 2013 CCNY Darkroom Resident Francesco Palombi, uses black and white images as part of a creative process that combines photography with drawing and sculpture. This exhibition marks the first of four solo exhibitions from the recipients of the 2013 CCNY Darkroom Residency Program.

Francesco Palombi says about this project:

Mente Originaria / Original Mind is my attempt to create images that represent an internal space / the mind.

A portrait of my mind that presents a duality between harmony and darkness.

Dissatisfied by photography as a passive observation of the outside reality, I suddenly felt the urge to create.

My approach switched from taking a photograph to building a photograph.

“Original”, as I mean it, comes from origin and it speaks about my instinctive way of creating.

It happened by itself. Without any knowledge about sculpture and drawing, I found myself using clay, wires, paint along with other materials, combining them in black and white images as final results.

Although I was making studio photographs, I had no real control of them. They were coming as they wanted and every final photograph was unexpected.

I wasn’t planning them, and whenever I tried, I failed.

I just had to wait, trying to be patient and hoping that that inexplicable and sort of magical feeling would come and expose my film.

And that’s why Original Mind.

Because I believe that when we create something that comes spontaneously out of us, it comes from a deeper, unknown part of the mind, maybe, the origin.

Born in 1991, Francesco Palombi is an artist from Rome, Italy. After moving to New York, Palombi attended the General Studies Program at the International Center of Photography in 2012. Palombi is a recipient of the 2012 Alan Model scholarship, and his work has been shown in several group shows around US. The process of printing in the darkroom embraces his ideas and plays a critical role in his work. Palombi currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. His website is www.francescopalombi.com.

The CCNY Darkroom Residency Program offers local photographers much-needed workspace in New York City as well as access to the CCNY community and programs. Each year, emerging photographers living in New York City are invited to apply for this program. The four recipients of the 2013 CCNY Darkroom Residency Program – Pierre Le Hors, Pixy Yijun Liao, Francesco Palombi, and Brea Souders – are the second group of residents to have solo exhibitions, thanks to the generous support of The Jerome Foundation. For more information about the CCNY Darkroom Residency Program, please visit our website.

Gallery hours: Monday – Saturday 12 - 6 pm

The CCNY Darkroom Residency Program is made possible by generous support from Fujifilm; Kodak; public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; Foundation for Contemporary Arts; and The Jerome Foundation.

CCNY is celebrating over 125 years serving the photographic and art community through this and upcoming exhibitions, lectures, and special events. For more information, contact John Stanley at info@cameraclubny.org or by phone at 212–260–9927.