Anastasia Samoylova: Harbor

Gallerie d’Italia – Torino presents Anastasia Samoylova. Harbor, a photographic exhibition exploring the character of seven European port cities: Genoa, Venice, Rotterdam, Marseille, Lisbon, Athens and Istanbul. Ports are structural spaces that evolve over time, shaped by transformations, intersections, movement and contradictions. They embody inclusion and exclusion, wealth and poverty, and the coexistence of past, present and future. These are places of temporal and spatial transition, defined by relentless commercial expansion, the threat of climate instability, the complexities of migration and the overwhelming saturation of visual stimuli.

Through her lens, Samoylova captures this vibrant interplay of sounds, colours, forms, shadows, light, presence and absence, offering a distinctive vision of each port. Characterised by a kaleidoscopic approach in which subjects emerge through the superimposition of multiple visual layers, her images invite viewers to pause, look more closely and take the time to observe.

While remaining connected to the documentary tradition, Samoylova creates images that are both conceptually rigorous and visually poetic. Her work resists immediate consumption, favouring sustained observation through layers of visual perception, ambiguity and meaning.