What is the best thing that I love about my work?

Come into a lot of stories, lives, emotions: I’m a journalist specialized in photography, and I also work as independent curator, writer, teacher, consultant. So I have the opportunity to meet a lot of people, listen their stories, give them a voice, I try to valorize their images and, at the same time, I share my point of view on them, my opinions and reflections.

What is my idea of perfect happiness?

Have a family, be in love, have two sons, a house in a countryside, but in the same time travel a lot, see the world, have the possibility to make a choice for my life.

What is my greatest fear?

Waste time. I don’t fear death: Early in my live I’ve perfectly learned that we have just this time to do something good, so the idea of waste time makes me in great difficulty.

What is the trait that I most deplore in myself?

Sometimes I don’t have “mental space” for other thoughts, I should spend my time for my hobbies and for other people around me that I Iove so much! Plus I’m not good enough in math!

Which living persons in my profession do i most admire?

Fortunately I have a lot of people I admire in my professional world, but also around it: searching into the past, Man Ray and Luigi Pirandello are two great men that I would like to meet and speak with; in the present, well I admire people who try to do the best, sincerely. The best friend of mine and also my colleague Annarita Curcio for example, who also works into the world of photography and cinematography. I respect a lot the work and the personality of Marina Abramović, the great work done for the Italian photography in the world of Enrica Viganò and Admira agency, the extremely difficult work on the territory done by the photographer, director and actress Rossella Viti and actor and artist Roberto Giannini too, the punctual work of cultural disclosure of the teacher and photographer Patrizia Genovesi, my lovable photographer Gina Alessandra Sangermano, young woman died at 40 years who is alive thanks to her images…

What is my greatest extravagance?

When a friend of mine asked to make me a pictures I accepted and with her I discovered I’m fascinated by change look, I’m seem different, or simply thanks to the images she shows the different parts of me and I liked this experience very much!

On what occasion would I lie?

I hate to lie and I never learned to do well. Anyway, I have to do it rarely but just when I perfectly know (especially at work) it could be helpful to make good thoughts could happen. So, I never lie just for my convenience.

What is the thing that I dislike the most in my work?

It’s often a man’s world so, as woman I have to work twice to gain the same and to understand how much I am worth. Because really I am worth! 😎

When and where was I the happiest, in my work?

Every time I realize I’ve done a good job, I see growing an exhibition curated by me, an author who realizes with my help his/her project, an article well done, a student that evolves.

If I could, what would I change about myself?

I always want to lose weight 😅 Seriously, I would like to speak french in addition to English and Spanish. I would like to refine the languages I know, and improve my capabilities in work.

What is my greatest achievement in work?

Two years ago I’ve written the book “TUTTO PER UNA RAGIONE. Dieci riflessioni sulla fotografia”. Nicknamed “the book with the blue cover”, it is a compendium of my 25 years of reflections and constant work into the world of photography. It was hard to write it for me because I’ve written this book in less than 7 months, in the early morning before going at the office, and after, at night, plus into the week end. But at least whoever reads it tells me it is a useful book. And it was the goal I reach with it!

Where would I most like to live?

In a city where I can live very well, work hardly and be happy. Now I live between Roma and north of Italy. One day maybe, somewhere…

What is my most treasured possession?

My Rolleiflex camera, surely. Then, my dear friend dog, Atahualpa (40kg of love and tenderness), a ring of my mother because I’m affectionate to it, my Mac with which I work, and especially a lot of immaterial thinks, like the scent of cut grass, the music of the guitar of my best friend, the expression of happiness of “my” photographers during the vernissage of the exhibition, and so on…

What is my most marked characteristic?

I’m empathic woman, so I can come into the lives and the stories very easily. Then I always have been a great sense of imagination and previsualization, so I can “see” sooner and better than others.

What is my most inspirational location, in my city?

A bar in which I often work. There are a lot of undergraduates, and there’s always rock music (genre I prefer), I can work and meet my clients to speak about our project, I can take a coffee, listen the bar goers’s history and create my ideas and project too.

What is my favourite place to eat and drink, in my city?

In this case the city isn’t Rome but Monza, into the north of Italy. In this city I love a place where I eat pizza slices, at the center of the city, or in another one where I often go when I’d like to eat meat.

What books influenced my life and how?

The first book I read in my life was Gulliver’s Travels. It is important for me because I consider myself a “traveller in mind”. Some friends call me “the woman with the suitcase” 😅. Then I have to mention also “diary of a killer sentimental killer” of Luis Sepùlveda. After reading his books, I’ve met him, interviewed this great man, and I’ve also his foreword into my first photographic book “ECUADOR: il piccolo gigante”. Then there are the Man Ray’s book of images: his way of seeing the world, the women, his free and surrealistic thought are for me the most important teaching. “Le città invisibili” of Italo Calvino is another book which gave me the possibility to take a look in different perspective to see the world. Definitely I need books that give me the chance to grow, reflect, and built my critic sense.

Who are my favorite writers?

Italo Calvino and Luis Sepùlveda.

You Only Die Once. What music would I listen on my last day?

I would like to hear the Wiener Philharmoniker and a rock concert of groups like AC/DC, Iron Maiden or Greta Van Fleet… But they have to play music together!

Who is my hero or heroine in fiction?

Lara Croft because she seems invincible and brave.

Who are my heroes and heroines in real life?

My ex teacher of Italian language, Enza Simone: she gave me the passion for research. The already mentioned Annarita Di Curcio, Rossella Viti, and more in general all people who fight for their ideas, respecting those of others.

Which movie would i recommend to see once in a lifetime?

“The wings of freedom” (1994) of Frank Darabont, with Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. The steadiness of the protagonist is instructive!

What role plays art in my life and work?

Deeply important: I think art and the real artists can change the ideas, give orientation to people, have a substantial task in everyday life, also if it seems impossible for a lot of people. I’ve studied history of art, I often visit exhibitions of different arts, and I recognise how society is influenced by art and viceversa.

Who is my greatest fan, sponsor, partner in crime?

A great man: the photographer and engineer Raffaele Salvati, which whom I share my passion, ideas, reflections, time for art and photography. Plus he is one of the authors I follow as curator.

Whom would I like to work with in 2020?

Well, I would like to continue to write my articles for the magazine FOTO Cult (Rome), but also I would like to be a speaker of with TEDx, possibly Rome and Milan, I’d like to work for ADMIRA photography (Milan) for the project Orienteering Drama in Umbria (Italy), I’d like to work with authors as counseling and curator, I’d like to organize exhibitions around the world and work for singer and photographer Fiorella Mannoia as curator of her first exhibition (this is really a dream!). Also I’d like to work abroad, or in festival such as Cortona on the Move or PHest (in Puglia, my region), for example.

Which people in my profession would i love to meet in 2020?

I’d like to meet Marina Abramović and speak with her about her way to consider art and life, I’d also like to speak with the photographer Paola Di Bello, who is the director of the School of Photography of Brera Academy in Milan, because I’d like to be useful for the students thanks to my experiences possibly shared with them.

What project, in 2020, am I looking forward to work on?

I’d like to speak of photography in radio broadcast: it could be a new adventure to speak of images without images! Plus, share the great world of photography and photographers into the theatre too. I want to organize a new kind of festival in which photography is just part of something bigger (together with music, for example). Then I hope to work for MIA Fair in Milan, at March 2020: this year will be the tenth edition and I would really want to work there! I’d like to open a cultural association in which continue to develop the curatorial work, carry on the project of my authors, and spread the photographic culture.

Too much thinks for just one year? I don’t think so! 😉

Where can you see me or my work in 2020?

In a lot of places: into the pages of FOTO Cult magazine you can read my articles; till now (I’m writing in January this answers) I just know that I will be in Milan at 29 of January (Officine Fotografiche) to speak of my book https://milano.officinefotografiche.org/appuntamenti/tutto-per-una-ragione-loredana-de-pace/?activePassed=appuntamenti

In Venice at 31 January at one of the oldest circles of photography in Italy, La Gondola; at February I’ll present my book at Il Gabbiano bookshop of Vimercate (MB). Then the 4th of april I’ll be at La Spezia to speak about my work at the tenth edition of “Le vie delle Foto festival”; after that maybe I’ll be in Spain for Raffaele Salvati exhibition. In april too I’ll be in Reggio Emilia for the Fotografia Europea Festival to present some of my authors: Raffaella Castagnoli, Michele Di Donato, Tina Cosmai. In may I’ll take care of the curatorship of the exhibition “Archeologia” of the Italian photographer Carlo Di Giacomo at Portici Comunali of Priverno, city of Latina (2/10 of may). In the second part of the year I’ll start a collaboration with NessunoPress association for cultural events. And something more into the rest of the year!

What do the words “Passion Never Retires” mean to me?

Always observe, speak, work, also when I think I’m not doing it 😅 because this is not a work, it’s my life!

Which creative heroines should Peter invite to tell their story? 

Annarita Curcio

Rossella Viti

Raffaella Castagnoli

Maria Santoro

Patrizia Genovesi

Cristiana Voglino

Vanna Fois

Antonella Monzoni

Fiorella Mannoia

Barbara Holzknecht

How can you contact me?

LinkedIn http://linkedin.com/in/loredana-de-pace-35716749

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/loredana.depace

Instagram @loredana_de_pace

Mail loredanadepace@gmail.com

My book TUTTO PER UNA RAGIONE https://emusebooks.com/libri/tutto-per-una-ragione-loredana-de-pace/

My book TUTTO PER UNA RAGIONE on Amazon

https://www.amazon.it/Tutto-ragione-Dieci-riflessioni-fotografia/dp/8898461895

My book “Ecuador: il piccolo gigante”

https://www.petruzzieditore.it/prodotto/ecuador-il-piccolo-gigante/

My book “Sono un cielo nuvoloso”

https://www.blurb.com/b/5678002-s-o-n-o-u-n-c-i-e-l-o-n-u-v-o-l-o-s-o

Here follows a message of Peter de Kuster, founder of The Heroine’s Journey