Featured Artist: Agustina Mistretta

Artist: Agustina Mistretta

Location: Argentina

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SFUK: Please begin by telling us a little about yourself and your interest in film photography.

AM: Agustina Mistretta (Buenos Aires, 1988) Growing up in Patagonia, Argentina, helped develop my curiosity for nature and its creative processes, which was further shaped by studies in Photography and Visual Arts (2009-2012). Driven by a desire to connect people and arts, I continued my education towards Curatorship and Cultural Management in Buenos Aires (2013-2017).

My artwork is centered in analog photography. Considering that memory survives through the image, the photographic act takes me to a place where time stops. I am interested in dreamscapes as a narrative possibility and memory as a process. I work on time as a measurement and the perception we have about it, with the ability photography has of enclosing, conserving and reproducing a fragment.

SFUK: Tell us why you shoot film.

AM: I shoot film because I feel a strong attachment to the materialization of an image through an almost alchemical process. I love the possibility of film to enclose an atmosphere - I'm attracted to double exposures, light leaks and chemical reactions imprinted on an image.

SFUK: Who inspires you, any favourite people or places you frequently go to for inspiration?

AM: Nature and its biological, physical, chemical and meteorological processes are my biggest source of inspiration. I get driven by the morphology of the landscape, the clouds, the air, the light, the saturated colors, the texture of minerals and the animal kingdom.

SFUK: How would you describe your style of shooting?

AM: I would describe it as dreamlike, maybe a bit confusing- I like to detach images from their natural source of reference to bedazzle the viewer and question his/her beliefs.

SFUK: Do you have a favourite camera or film stock you feel compliments your work?

AM: Nikon FM2 was my first camera crush- Then I met Diana and fell in love with the square format and double exposure possibilities, I use both, as well as instant film with Polaroid Close-Up 636 and Instax Mini.

SFUK: Finally, is there anything else you're currently working on we can keep an eye out for in the near future?

AM: My current challenge is exploring different ways in which analog images can leave the frame and inhabit the tangible world through alternative processes like lithographs, cyanotypes and image transfer on wood, ceramics and encaustics. I am also working on an artist book, “Dreamscapes”, and preparing my first solo show in Argentina for July 2018.

Keep up to date with Agustina's work at www.agusmistretta.com and be sure to follow her on Instagram @agusmistretta

You can also find Agustina via her artists platform Ether at www.etherartsproject.com

Thank you.

If you'd like to share your work in the Features space, see the submission guidelines at the bottom of the Submit! page or contact ShootFilmUK by using the form at the bottom of the homepage.