Interview: Marzio Emilio Villa
By Lia J. Latty
Published April 2nd, 2021
Did you always know you wanted to be a creative and a photographer?
MARZIO: I started photographing eighteen years ago, I was sixteen years old. In 2003, I remember I wanted to become a war reporter. In those years photo reporters started to be considered artists that could sell in the art market. At the same time, the world of photography started to talk about “how photography can be ethical”. I immediately followed this thought to the point that I considered disturbing and hypocritically buying and selling this type of photography that represents the suffering of racialized bodies and oppressed people. Eighteen years ago I hadn’t a dialectic to explain or understand that it was just the oppressor buying photographs of their own oppression. I told myself that I would try to find a good way to be ethical and respectful to my subjects. There’s always a relation between the photographer and his subject; western photographers have a eurocentric vision on a Black subject and this is a reminiscence of a white colonial privilege. There’s no ethics and these images can be the last process of oppression.
How do you define your relationship with photography?
MARZIO: Normally I decide to shoot a project after I did my research, but sometimes I use photography for relaxing time; the simple act of walking and seeing is therapeutic. Ok, I have to admit, I shoot everything, everyday!
As a Black creative, how have you navigated the photo world/industry in Europe?
MARZIO: While living in France for ten years, I was a part of POC. My gallerist was racialized, some of my friends were too, but France has a big colonial history. Three years ago in Italy most people said that racism doesn’t exist here; they were colorblind.
What inspirations influence your photography?
MARZIO: If we talk about my aesthetic influences, I studied art in Italy and I lived 10 years in Paris. Obviously I had a chance to see a lot of European paintings. About the meaning or the atmosphere of my photography, I am influenced by music, political hip-hop or hardcore.
How did you make your way to Europe?
MARZIO: I was adopted by Italian parents, I grew up in Milan and lived ten years in Paris. I have to admit that it is in Paris that I learned most about photography, expression, editing, ect. I left Italy to go to Paris because I was trying to run away from racism and microaggressions that I lived in my childhood. In 2016, I started to study racism for myself and to explain to others what we lived. I started to work on French colonialism and there I understood that I started a project that doesn’t speak about my experience. I started “Black Italians” when I was in Paris, and I continued in Italy when I came to visit my parents. I decided to come back because that wasn’t my history and definitely because Italy is where I belong.
“With my work, I ask white people to look inside themselves and wonder: “How racist am I? Which side am I standing for?”“
Was there a specific moment or experience that inspired you to create your series “Black Italians”?
MARZIO: When I came back from Brazil where I experienced a different type of racism. There I was a slave descendent, in Europe for white people I’m “just” a stranger. Especially in Italy, Black people or racism are associated with migrations or refugees, but not Italians. So when I came back I understood that I had to declare that we exist too. We are Black with an Italian culture, we love pasta and pizza too!
How was the work received by the public?
MARZIO: Most of the time the public is not prepared to talk about racism and the topic raised a lot of interest. With my work, I ask to white people to look inside themselves and wonder: “How racist am I? Which side am I standing for?” After George Floyd was murdered, it was cool to share Black artists. The western societies needed us to clean their conscience and in that moment like most of Black artists, I felt used. All the world talked about was racism and Europe wanted to do its part. I published my work in places where the people I had to deal with, later, showed me that they ain’t prepared to talk about racism.
What do you hope people take away from your imagery?
MARZIO: I wonder how I can externalize what Black people live every day, especially in Europe. Even if European colonial empires no longer exist, they still keep their mentality created over centuries. Without taking any responsibility for their own past, considering white supremacy an American issue and thinking they’re not involved. My photographs are dedicated to educating and creating a debate on issues concerning the society I live in: oppression, micro aggression, fetishism, cultural appropriation, privileges.