PBM: Fabrizio, what brought you to take on photography and how your relation with the medium evolved over the years?

FQ: I started photographing around 2007, and I used to take pictures mostly in the street. Then, around 4 years ago I went through a phase when I was regularly photographing but the resulting images didn’t resonate with me at all. I felt I was hitting the limits of what I could express through the way I was photographing at that time - and I started to feel a sense of emptiness and frustration.

By taking some time to reflect, talking to friends and fellow photographers, something eventually clicked that drastically changed my approach to photography: instead of going out looking volatile moments to capture with my camera, I decided I could photograph subjects I felt intimately connect with, my real or imaginary encounters, my dreams and feelings: I realised that what was actually missing from my photographs was a deeper and more meaningful connection with my world. I needed to create stories to channel my personal emotions and vision.

This switch allowed my photography to become a very personal affair: when making pictures, I almost always find myself walking along the thin line between factual truth and deception, perhaps to the point that I subconsciously allow photography to shape my feelings and my memories (rather than the other way around). It is an incredible self-discovery journey.

Aritmia, your upcoming book designed with Steve Bisson looks very promising, the photography is lyrical with evocative landscapes and intimate pictures of a female model, could you tell us what is the intention behind the narrative presented in this book?

Aritmia is a personal photographic project on which I have been working for the past year and a half and is a story about a journey between reality and dreams to rediscover something I believe is often overlooked and forgotten in our everyday life: how deeply we are connected to the natural world and our true essence as human beings.

I think this discovery journey can only happen in the land between reality and dreams - because it would require us to abandon our social mask and overcome the boundaries imposed by our minds. Mia (model Mia Liberum) is the main character of the book, and through her journey I wish to symbolize our quest to rediscover ourselves.

In Aritmia I have built a narrative creating a visual and emotional dialogue between two types of photographs: dream-like visions of landscapes and nature and images with a vulnerable, fragile yet empowering human presence. Throughout the story Mia's figure marks out the route of this journey and serves as a punctuation in the intimate relationship with a fleeting and unstable nature.

In the past you have produced a number of zines, why the need for a book now?

First of all I'd like to say that the tactile aspect in everything in photography is really important to me: for me the essence of a photograph is only fully perceivable when it becomes a physical object. In the past the format of choice to present my stories has been a fanzine: cheap to produce, informal, unpretentious and easy to circulate.

For Aritmia, being a story related to dreams, I really wished it to become an even more articulated experience: I wanted to use some high quality paper, a specific type of binding with a hardcover and other features to convey the mood of the work that are often unavailable when producing a fanzine. In addition, I was looking forward to the exciting and challenging experience associated to producing a book. I also thought this experience could be useful for taking stock of where I am now as a photographer.

You are part of Spontanea, a collective of street photographers. How do you collaborate with them? Do you feel being part of that environment has helped you in your creative process?

I am one of the founding members of the Spontanea collective and - while the collective started as a 'Street Photography' collective in 2013, we now like to think that we are more a 'photographers' collective as most of the members have evolved, widened and differentiated their views and approaches to photography. Definitely one of the reasons of each member’s growth path is the positive influence we had with each other during our frequent online (we communicate through a private Facebook group) and physical meetings. As I have also evolved photographically from street to a more fine-art/personal approach, I would definitely say that being a member of Spontanea has helped me in the creative process and in giving me stimuli to find my path as an artist.

You have a solo show coming up at the end of November in Italy where you will display a selection from Aritmia. How did such great opportunity come about? And what would be the outcomes you'd hope for?

I am absolutely thrilled and honoured to have this solo exhibition coming up! The show will be at a gallery called 'The Bid Art Space' in Pesaro. I met Lorenzo Uccellini, The Bid's owner and curator, through a common photographer friend a few years ago. I love what Lorenzo is doing with his gallery, now an established culture hub: not only a place to see a selection of wonderful art, but also as a center for numerous activities that Lorenzo and his organisation run to support new and upcoming artists.

It was natural for me to show Lorenzo Aritmia in its first inception to have some early feedback about the project. While discussing about it, Lorenzo proposed me to show the work at his gallery when the project would have been completed.

I like to think that Aritmia is not "only" a book: it is a world made of the book, the exhibition and a multimedia piece - each one showing different facets and hidden secrets of the Aritmia world. I hope that by coming to the exhibition many will be able to experience Aritmia to the fullest, not only with their sight, but also by touching the book, walking through the exhibition and hearing the music of the video piece.

You can support Fabrizio’s Aritmia by pledging to his Kickstarter campaign here.