'Rimini' is a new project by the Reggio Emilia-born photographer Paolo Simonazzi. It forms part of the programme of events organised by the Municipality of Rimini to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the publication of the eponymous novel by the Correggio writer, Pier Vittorio Tondelli.
The work is built upon a foundation of literary, cinematic, musical, and – above all – autobiographical influences. Within these themes, the artist navigates a delicate balance between lightness and depth.
The photographs in Simonazzi’s latest project speak of the world, but also of a conceptualisation of it. Rimini is portrayed as a Frontier, a Sublime Door, a Mirage, a Promise, an Utopia. It is a kaleidoscope of eras and fashions where one finds oneself in two places simultaneously: the physical and the imaginary; caught between wonder and illusion, between the 'here' and the 'elsewhere'. Simonazzi documents the locations that draw him in, while simultaneously capturing within them novel perspectives, ironic moments, remnants of memory, and (auto)biographical signs.
These images speak of the world, but also of an idea of it—as if a subtle, personal layer, composed of lived experience, knowledge, and passion, has settled upon the very surface of the photograph.