Rouncing juliet

An exhibition of the famous Italian fashion photographer Paolo Roversi opened in the multimedia art museum

Photos of Paolo Rovers, shown in the multimedia art museum, were included in the legendary Pirelli Calendar “In Search of Juliet”. Multimedia Art Museum is the only museum in the world that exhibits pictures of this calendar. The calendar is not typical at all, because in itself is a work of art. It was once said that this is a set of posters for truckers, since it was published by the tire production company as a corporate calendar. Now this is the most important publication in the world of fashion, the best photographers in the world work on it, it is printed in a limited circulation and spreads at auctions. Therefore, only “strong worlds of this” can acquire such a calendar.

Despite the fact that Pirelli is an Italian company, Paolo Roversi is the first photographer of Italian origin, which takes for a calendar. Roversi decided to present a story that has roots in his native country, Italy, so the Shakespearean classic - “Romeo and Juliet” became the plot for shooting.

The photographer himself grew up in Ravenna, very close to Verona, where the play takes place, so it was not difficult for him to present the characters in the revival. Filming took place partly in Verona, partly in Paris. Rovers' pictures are very artistic, kinematographic, and its proximity to Italian culture makes them almost fabulous: mystical, air images embodate eternal femininity.

The heroines on the pictures were Claire Foy, Emma Watson, Kristen Stuart, Mia Goth, Chris Lee, India Moore, Rosalia, Yara Shahidi - the most vivid and influential young women of our time, “heroines of their time”. In them, Roversi tried to make out the image of Juliet, who, according to the photographer, is hidden in every woman. He was looking for a man with a pure soul for the role of modern Juliet; The one in which innocence, strength, beauty, tenderness and courage would be combined - all the qualities inherent in a woman in love.

Therefore, it is interesting to observe how Roversi works with his models:

He creates the story of an imaginary casting for a new film about Romeo and Juliet.

First, he photographs them during arrival on the set, without costumes and makeup, as if trying to catch Juliet's features in an ordinary girl. Then the photographer asks them to play scenes from Shakespeare's drama. Playing Juliet, each tells its personal story. Models put on costumes and transform - so Rovers helps to reveal the image of the Shakespearean heroine in which the dream is embodied. The shooting process was turned into a documentary film, where women are gradually entering the role.

Each heroine, like Juliet (of course, in other circumstances), has her inner strength and rod. Rosalia in the age of 17 transfers surgery on vocal cords, after which she has to start singing almost from scratch; Claire Foy collided with the tumor in the eye, after which her face was deformed for a long time. India Moore is a transgender model, which included in the top 100 most influential people in the world according to Time magazine. At the age of 14, he leaves the house due to the transfobia of his parents and lives in patronage families, and already at 15 begins his modeling career. “The problems associated with the adoption of transgender in society cause me associations with the plot“ Romeo and Juliet ”, which talks about prejudice and violence that go hand in hand,” the model says.

Actress Kristen Stewart stands out from the Juliet. “The most powerful act that a person can do is completely give himself to another.

I was always enthusiastic about Juliet. In my opinion, she is cool. Juliet live everywhere. I feel both Romeo and Juliet at the same time "

- So Kristen Stewart perceives his image. She refuses to pronounce Juliet's monologue on the camera and pronounces Romeo's words. In some pictures, she shows the features of masculinity in the image of a modern woman, on others remains mysterious and romantic, as her heroine in the films "Twilight".

Love, strength, youth, rebellion, beauty - these things unite the images of heroines in the pictures of Paolo Rovers showing new femininity. Perhaps it is no coincidence that Charlotte Hensbur and Mia Goth who starred in Lars von Trier, known for the studies of different aspects of femininity, fell into the lens of the photographer.

“The world is changing, and it is extremely interesting that these heroines really are new voices, these women change the world, and each of them is heroic in their own way. On the one hand, she is a hero with muscles, a cool woman, and on the other, Juliet, ”says the director of the museum Olga Sviblova.

"The themes" What is the gender? " And “What are role -playing models?”, Which contemporary art raises, first fall into the Pirelli calendar, is first demonstrated in such seemingly familiar images. This is important because it helps not to be afraid to be different, we eventually accept our difference and understand that Romeo and Juliet have different incarnations. ”

Work on the Rovers calendar is over, but the 73-year-old photographer will never stop looking for his Juliet.

Anastasia Larina , especially for Novaya Gazeta