For the Hall Of Fame column dedicated to our alumni, today we present Anna Sincini, a young Polish photographer who graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and now lives and works in Rome.
We asked her to recall the path that led her to attend the Photo, Video and New Media Course.
In her father's footsteps
My father is a restorer of old paintings. As a child, I used to spend a lot of time in his workshop watching him at work. So art entered my life early on and has always been a part of it. I was so fascinated by this world that I decided I wanted to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. At that time I used a camera with a roll of film and developed my shots in a darkroom. My great passion has always been photographing architecture, urban spaces. After graduating I continued my studies at the Fryderyk Chopin Music University in Warsaw with a two-year course in multimedia graphics where I switched to the digital camera.
I then extended my education with a Master's degree in Art History at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University.
My parents have always supported my every decision. I think it is very important for a young person to feel the support of his/her family and those who love him/her. Every day I call my father to share our art: I talk to him about my latest shots and he about his paintings.
We have a beautiful relationship.
My mother has also always supported me in all my choices. I consider myself very lucky!
Galeotto was Erasmus in Italy
While I was studying at the Academy, in Warsaw, I proposed myself for an exchange experience in Italy, with destination the Academy of Fine Arts in Perugia. There I met Marco, now my husband, who is a theatre actor. We first started a long-distance relationship, as I returned to Warsaw and found work as an assistant in a contemporary art gallery. He was travelling between Italy and Poland at the time, but he was struggling to settle in as he did not speak my language. In the end, we decided by mutual agreement to return to Italy.
First stop: Roma
We chose to live in Rome, it was 2016. I immediately found a job in a graphic workshop, but I had somewhat abandoned my passion for photography. It was Marco who pushed me to continue training in this area and to seek new experiences. So, in 2019, I chose the Photography, Video and New Media Course at the Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan, where I moved once I passed the selections. In the meantime Marco stayed in Rome.
Life at the Academy in Milan
I chose to study at the Academy in Milan because, thanks to my husband's work, I came into contact with the world of theatre and began to love it deeply. I was aware that my decision would have entailed both financial and energy expenditure: Marco stayed in Rome and I looked for accommodation in Milan, but I was determined to give myself a new chance in life. The course was beautiful, concrete and very intense. Every day I learned something new and every lesson was never the same.
The Academy's professors are all outstanding professionals who have been in the industry for a long time.
I remember very well the first day they took us to Teatro alla Scala - it was the first time for me: a unique emotion, I knew I had taken the right path!
Being able to visit the backstage of such an important reality was very interesting to better understand the entire production and production chain of a live show. I was able to get to know the ‘theatre space’ better and learn how to move around in it. It sounds trivial, but the photographer must be very careful not to make his presence almost felt, to capture the right moment that gives the perfect shot, without being intrusive towards the artists.
The City as a Stage.
The course, as already mentioned, has a very practical approach. It aims to train you to the best of your ability for this profession, so theoretical lectures were very often alternated with practical exercises and visits to the theatre.
A project I loved was The City as a Stage, which was carried out at the Academy under the guidance of Pino Ninfa. We portrayed some of the members of the Academy Orchestra in an urban setting that acted as an open-air stage for them.
I made a series of portraits of clarinetist Carlo Ambrosoli.
Post-graduation rebirth
The post-graduation period was not the easiest, I could not decide what I really wanted to do with my life, in terms of work.
I returned to Rome in 2020 and I still hadn't found work. The theatres were closed, the world of show business was completely suspended - and me with it. Again, I have to thank my family, who spurred me on again. I took my shots again, worked on my website and social profiles, and started devising new projects tailored to the people I wanted to address.
I have always loved light, urban space, the geometry of architecture, design and fashion.
So I had the idea of contacting some fashion houses and designers in Warsaw, whom I knew by reputation more than anything else, proposing them photo shoots portraying the city of Rome and their new collections. This project is still alive today, they like it very much and I am proud to have been able to create it.
In addition, thanks to my social profiles, I have been contacted for several photo shoots. In this field, there is such a demand in Rome that I decided to create an entirely dedicated site, clearly dividing my business into two areas.
And then, something new: I will soon move to the other side of the chair and start teaching photography here in the capital. In the meantime, I continue to cherish the dream of one day returning to the theatre.
The love for light
White pervades my work...a somewhat unconscious choice, perhaps, but I could never present photographs in which the predominant colour was black.
Light is positivity, serenity and at the same time strength, and I always try to convey these elements through my shots.
