Giuseppe Gradella has a profound belief in memories and dreams. Conscious that everything is layered over time, in the heart, in memory and that, sooner or later, it finds a way back to the light, to unveil itself, he thinks of photography as holding your breath, just under the surface, for as long as your breath lasts, then re-emerging to observe the world from a different perspective, one that is more aware. In order for memory to speak to him, he arms himself with a lot of patience and an excellent bait that allows him to fish even where life’s flow is perceptible only to the eye, like under a sheet of ice. Physical places and those that exist in memory, where life and dreams intertwine in a process of transfiguration and internal re-creation in which time is suspended. In Giuseppe Gradella’s photographs, which deal with fashion, architecture and fine art, there is a constant juxtaposition between what is actually in front of the camera and what he has retained from his experiences, in a continuous study that becomes introspective self-critique. As he himself is fond of saying, “For me, photography arrived like a storm after months of drought, and I am still very thirsty.” Giuseppe lives and works in Mantua (Italy).