iara di stefano: di Miele e di Fiele - Collana CAPSULE PHOTO di Gente di Fotografia

Honey and Gall—two substances with opposing sensory profiles, often entwined in symbolic contrast. “Mel in ore [...] fel in corde” (honey in the mouth, gall in the heart), reads a medieval Latin proverb; “in corpo fiele, in bocca miele” (gall in the body, honey on the lips), wrote Pirandello in The Man, the Beast and the Virtue.

With this title, Iara Di Stefano invokes an ancient dualism to frame the narrative of a pivotal year - a turning point in her own life. The book unfolds through contrasting materials and shifting registers, creating a rhythm of fracture and recomposition. Yet from these apparent disruptions, a kind of organic unity emerges - almost biological in nature. The photographs act as surfaces upon which both sweetness and bitterness accumulate, like traces left behind by experience.

Mother and father, the body, animals, food, objects, and travel: these are the raw materials of a shared existence, as well as recurring motifs in the history of images.
Of Honey and Gall touches on them all, bringing them into quiet dialogue - without hierarchy or imposed order. They are drawn from the flow of days, from the turning of events and the drift of inner states. 

(from the presentation text by Laura Manione)