GIOVANNI SQUATRITI – Giuseppe Savarino
A passion that was born for ‘magical causality’ and not randomness and then translates into a real life privilege. Thus began the professional story of Giovanni Squatriti, a refined Italian fashion photographer who leads his intense life between Milan, where he has lived for many years, and the four corners of the world, where he works. A career characterized by encounters with supermodels, international actors and characters of all caliber linked as by a transparent thread that determines their trajectory leading it in a crescendo of extraordinary experiences.
by Giuseppe Savarino
DAs a child his father often gave him cameras and loved to take him with him to photograph the landscapes. In some way it was he who made him discover photography by looking at the world through the lens and feeding what will then reveal an indispensable love for photography. “I loved leafing through fashion magazines, I waited for them to arrive at the newsstands with great desire, I literally devoured them. In the same way I did with the discs, of which I read every single credit. An early love in adolescence was for MINA, of which I have always been a fan. It was 1996 when the album “Cremona” was released and besides the songs I was intrigued by the cover. Mina wore a very special long cloak, she discovered by reading the credits that Gianni Versace had designed it. At that moment Versace became for me the absolute inspiration of what is glamor and beauty “.
Ironically a few years later, during his architecture studies, Giovanni moved to Milan and for a whole series of lucky coincidences he became assistant to the one who created the most beautiful covers of Mina, the great photographer and artist Mauro Balletti. “I started working with Mauro when I was very young. My initial role was second assistant, a role that I accepted with great pride in order to be able to work alongside him on the set, I knew it would teach me a lot. Then over time I began to support him in all his activities and for me it was a huge privilege, a school of life, a decidedly privileged apprenticeship with a significant creative and human added value “
That of Squatriti is a photograph that does not feed on moments caught in their sudden happening, in the extemporaneousness of the object and the gaze, but a structured research and an art pose.
“I have always preferred fashion photography over other forms of photography; I love the thoughtful and structured composition of the posed, constructed image. Among the many names of the great contemporary masters there is certainly that of Steven Meisel, in this, he is my point of reference, the most sophisticated living photographer in the world, but then the list is long, very long “.
Fashion photography, therefore, is an overall project in which the authorial figure represents the added value, the touch of originality, the exclusive character that Squatriti achieves by ‘breaking the lines’ with respect to the standards of the production lines.
“I really like looking for a comparison in the creative phase, despite taking care of the art direction of each of my photoshoots, the creative comparison with the team is fundamental for me. The point is that, by nature, I can’t help changing everything that was the initial idea, it’s stronger than me. “
In the career of a fashion photographer on the sets of international magazines, professional “encounters” can become occasions when a real “epiphany” is created that transforms and excites even when it is not realized: Omar Sharif and Loredana Bertè.
“I was in the Middle East for a Louis Vuitton production that would later result in a solo exhibition in Dubai. A huge and ambitious project where I photographed the 30 most influential characters in the Middle East to celebrate the 30 years of the brand in the middle east. In the list of people to photograph, among Emirs, Hollywood film producers, actors, philanthropists, writers, there was also a name to which I am very attached: Omar Sharif; I was overjoyed. Some time before the photo shoot I was sent a letter apologizing for not being able to be on the set for health reasons. Shortly thereafter he passed away. Although in fact he never managed to photograph him, he remains for me the most charismatic character of whom I appreciated the high human figure and his elegance through the words he wrote. I often happen to be traveling around the world to photograph internationally renowned artists and actors, but the highest elegance remains tied to the one that paradoxically I have never seen. “
“On the contrary, it happened with the Italian rock icon Loredana Bertè. I was invited by Gianluca Saitto, in his atelier in Milan who said to me in an absolutely unexpected way “Giovanni I would like you to take photos of Loredana, I feel that you are the only one who can photograph her”. Loredana Bertè, together with Mina, were (and are) among the singers I love and listen to most. Needless to say, I accepted immediately!
It was all extremely exciting with Loredana, you know that she is a very demanding character. Over 40 years on set with the best photographers in the sector; in addition she had not been photographed for about ten years. For the cover of his latest album Loredana had the idea of wearing a straitjacket, alluding to what was an old episode where the straitjacket made her wear it but above all playing with the name of her latest album which alludes to the freedom both in the title and in the text of one of her singles (LiBertè). A new image for the queen of Italian Rock that I wanted to make “iconic” for a character who was already an icon. I fondly remember her comment at the end of the shooting “It seemed like I was in Los Angeles when I was shooting with Tolot”. (Alberto Tolot, great American fashion photographer with whom Loredana Bertè took several covers, photographer of some of Madonna’s most iconic covers. Ed)
Beauty in his photography is subject and object: “Beauty inspires”.
“In the future I would like to develop an idea of photography that is video, creating something as a director and director of photography. True modernity is the mix of creativity, fashion, art and glamor. The trend of current hyperrealism I think is only transitory: I have always seen fashion as linked to the dream, in the immortal works of the Masters of photography there is a clear desire to stand out from everyday normality. Basically it is the idea of glamor and a dream that Versace introduced in the 80s fashion, which was his genius. All very far from what seems to be trendy today and found in magazines, where everything looks like a long and infinite lookbook.
