IN THIS INTERVIEW > Italian photographer Cristina Coral presents her ongoing series Rooms and talks in general about her work, a visual exploration of her own psychological space.

Hello Cristina, thank you for this interview. What are your main interests as a photographer?

Taking pictures helps me to discover a connection between an environment and my inner dialogue.

What is your series Rooms about, in particular?

It’s about recounting memories, telling stories of the past.

Rooms as well as many of your other series are largely centered around the contrast between pretty girls in elegant attire and the bleak atmosphere of the scenes you create. Where does your preference for this type of representation come from?

The spaces of my pictures contain the dimension of my thoughts. They must be almost suspended and embrace the shape, composition and structure of my images. Light and time are very important for me. Light is intensity and time is mystery.

As a young woman yourself, how much of you is in your photographs?

The complexity of the female figure is the best metaphor to represent my own feelings and the fragility and contradictions I often recognize in myself.

What does your typical process in making one of your pictures look like?

I create a space in which the girls can move with spontaneity, and capture what I feel I need to capture. Only in certain cases I direct them in some way.

Fashion photography seems like a clear influence on your photography. Was the work of any photographer particularly important for you, and what other influences other than photography can you identify?

I am not influenced by fashion photography in particular. I’d rather say I’m influenced by aesthetic thinking. My vision of beauty is contemplative and detached, while fashion photography is more about production.

Who are some of your favorite contemporary photographers?

I appreciate the work of Luckasz Wierzbowsky.

Do you have any other passion beside photography?

Art and music are very important to me.

Choose your #threewordsforphotography.

Research. Escape. Addiction.