PresenzAssenza: presence and absence. Two alternative states of being that coexist in the realm of shadows.
Begun in the 1970s, this series is not merely an investigation of shadows, but the only form of self-portraiture Fontana has ever pursued. Developed in parallel to —though independent from— Lee Friedlander’s black-and-white explorations, these works arise from a shared human impulse: the need to assert one’s identity, to register one’s presence, and to momentarily claim a fleeting, illusory ownership over a fragment of reality.