Congratulations to Photography student Irene Occhipinti, selected from the 5 winners of the 4th edition of the “Young photographers from Italian Academies” contest.
On Sunday, September 1st, in Ragusa Ibla, at the Antico Convento ai Giardini Iblei, the names of the twelve finalists of the fourth edition of the “Young photographers from Italian Academies” contest were announced, promoted and organized by the Academy of Fine Arts of Catania and the Ragusa Foto Festival.
Taking a break is the theme proposed by the twelfth edition of the Ragusa Foto Festival, where 54 young authors presented their projects, coming from 16 institutions representing the entire country. The jury was chaired by Gianluigi Colin, artist, art director, art critic, and cover editor of “La Lettura” from Corriere della Sera; Rosario Antoci, artist, ABACT Catania professor, member of the Festival’s scientific committee, and project coordinator; Benedetta Donato, curator and director of the RCA – Romano Cagnoni Award, member of the scientific committee, and chair of the jury for the Ragusa Foto Festival’s Best Portfolio Award; Lucia Miodini, photography historian and professor at the University of Parma, representing SISF; Federica Battaglia from Galleria Clou in Ragusa; and Armando Romeo Tomagra, photographer and professor at ABACT Catania.
This year, there are five winners of the fourth edition:
RUFA student Irene Occhipinti, Maria Chiara Bruno (Aba Catania), Cristina Bucciaglia (Aba Napoli), Dario De Biaggio (Aba Roma), and Valeria Limongi (Aba Brera Milano). These young authors will exhibit their works in Ragusa from September 28th to October 27th and will be featured in the catalog.
During the opening night of the exhibition, the name of the winner, who will receive a cash prize of five hundred euros from the Libero Consorzio Comunale di Ragusa, will be announced. On the same night, the Clou Prize will also be awarded, allowing one of the five to exhibit their project in a solo show at Galleria Clou in Ragusa.
“I Can’t Remember Anymore”, the winning project by RUFA artist Irene Occhipinti.
The project I Can’t Remember Anymore explores memory loss in the information age and the accelerated pace of modern life. In a context where we are constantly exposed to an overload of data and stimuli, the images evoke the conflict between the desire to slow down and contemporary frenzy. Overstimulation forces us to live in a state of continuous acceleration, testing our ability to remember and retain memories.
Through the metaphorical representation of the brain’s neural system and the erasure of information in the images, the photographs reflect not only on the informational overstimulation but also on how it affects our ability to preserve and retrieve the most significant memories. The project examines memory not as a simple static archive but as a dynamic and vulnerable system, deeply influenced by the speed and intensity with which we live and receive information.
I Can’t Remember Anymore invites critical reflection on the fragility of memory in the era of accelerated modernity, emphasizing the importance of slowing down to preserve what truly matters.
