Biography
Francesca Catastini (Lucca, 1982) is based in Tuscany, Italy.
Raised in a family with a strong scientific background, she developed an early interest for ethology and medicine. At the age of five she made her first (and last) attempt to preserve two little animals, a dead bird and a field mouse, by wrapping them tightly in black bin liners and keeping them in a shoe box.
Eventually she decided to keep images of things, instead of the things themselves (if for no other reason than to avoid the smell). She feels that as a highly sensitive person, it is easier to study the facts of life when they do not move.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS: Feminine Masculine, Photo50, curated by Federica Chiocchetti, London Art Fair, London; Premio Fabbri per le arti contemporanee, Villa Brandolini, Pieve di Soligo; ROMANZO PISTOIA, by Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato; Photolux Festival, exhibition of the dummies shortlisted of Photolux Selfpublishing Award; Terranauti, curated by Ilaria Mariotti and Angelika Stepken, Centro Espositivo SMS, Pisa; Riflessi d’Italia, CUBO Centro Unipol, Bologna; D Photobookshow, The Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki; Good Breeding (solo exhibition), Mc2 Gallery, Milan; Fotografia?, Careof DOCVA, Milan; DOMESTIC, Biennal de Fotografia Xavier Miserachs, Palafrugell; C Bookshow, Create Studio, Brigthon; Di alcune case, curated by Walter Guadagnini, Ars Now Seragiotto, Padova; DOMESTIC, Photographic Social Vision, Espacio Cultural Caja Madrid, Barcelona
SELECTED ARTIST TALKS / PRESENTATIONS: Guardare il paesaggio, Dryphoto arte contemporanea, Prato; Photo50, LAF, London; Screening session, Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne; TERRANAUTI #Prolog: Navigating the art system, Villa Romana, Florence; Incontri sul contemporaneo, DAMS, University of the Arts, Bologna; Fotografia?, Careof DOCVA, Milan
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS: RAW VIEW Magazine, guest curator Arianna Rinaldo; Co-Curate Magazine, issue 1, by Aaron Schuman and Isabelle Evertsee; Photoworks Annual, issue 22, text by Federica Chiocchetti; Good Breeding, text by Francesco Zanot; Back to the Present, curated by Elisa Del Prete; Domestic, by Photographic Social Vision; Nothing to see here #1, curated by Francesco Jodice
