love, sex and relationships
| Black and white video-photography project | Film photography | Mamiya II 6x7 | 2015-ongoing |
love, sex and relationships is a series of portraits and videos, which include questions to myself, to couples and to individuals who are, or were, in love, sex and relationships.
Through interviews (I collected 40 hours of interviews), I entered an intimate space of memories, thoughts and feelings.
Twenty – five people took part in the project, couples or single individuals met online or in the streets of London.
I explored different relationships: from heterosexual relationships to homosexual, single mothers, divorced or separated couples ....
Addiction to love can cause emotional problems such as depression, anxiety, violence, jealousy, obsessive thoughts, pain and confusion. Many of us are trapped in wrong sexual and love relationships.
After the interview I then invited the couples or individuals to represent their relationship to the camera, any way they wished.
Traditionally, a photographer searches for telling images of his or her subject.
My approach has been, rather, to find out how the subjects of my project might portray themselves.
I wanted to explore what it is like for others to be in a relationship.
What is love? What is sex? What is a relationship? Do you love yourself? Does education, culture, religion confuse us? What do we fear?
Are we free?
The project started before Brexit and Covid-19 in multi-ethnic London while I was in a love relationship with my ex-boyfriend, which later became abusive and develops the theme of love.
I didn’t love myself.
The video photography project includes analog photographs in black and white, a video documentation (16 individual videos, total duration 6 hours) a nine minutes monologue titled 'do you love yourself?' And a photography book co-curated with editor Steve Bisson.
Here the pdf of the project - love, sex and relationships

FILIZ, single mother with a teenager

GANGA, divorced after 10 years married

GILL and RICHARD, married for 30 years

EDWIN and GIULIA, together since 18 years

ESPERANZA, married for 30 years, separated not divorced with a daughter

AGNESE and VIRGINIA, married for 2 years

JAMES and JOAKIM in a love relationship

TONI KING, single, divorced, with a teenager he can't see

SARAH and ROBERT, married for 13 years with three children

WEN WEI and VALERIA, 6 month together, getting married in 6 months

CHRIS, single

GIULIA and DIANA, living and working together since two years

ROBIN and PAOLA, married since 2 years

MUM and DAD, married for 45 years with four children

ERICA, 7 years old

LASZLO, my ex-boyfriend

LOREDANA, the interviewer
do you love yourself?
Monologue (Trailer)
director-producer
Riccardo Sai
post-production
Luca Previtali