Mirage presents the work of two young artists who use photography in different ways, with different aims, demonstrating the flexibility of the medium in approaching a wide range of expressive possibilities.

Donatella Di Cicco was born in 1971 in Naples, where she lives and works. She creates veritable sets in which people perform utterly normal actions in decidedly abnormal situations and environments. The series of so-called abandoned places is already quite well-known – destroyed shopping centers, abandoned suburban supermarkets, junkyards – in which one or more persons make a gesture or carry out an activity as if everything were perfect, new, functioning.

In this show Di Cicco presents Dolls, a new series of portraits of young girls posing and dressed as aspiring models. These are images of teenagers resembling those who wait patiently in line at auditions for television programs. Framed in the cold light of marine or rural landscapes that make everything even more alienating, the Dolls represent the dream of fame and wealth of a generation inspired by, and raised on, mass media.

Annalisa Sonzogni was born in Sarnico (BG) in 1974 and lives in Milan. Her photography is intimate, attempting to catch atmospheres, glimpses and situations the eye usually overlooks. One of the latest series of images, entitled Private, investigates the interiors of apartments, stealing private moments of places and people. But the viewer doesn’t feel like a voyeur, thanks to the presence of a delicate, discreet feeling of belonging.

In this show Sonzogni presents a new series of works, entitled Interiors. These are nocturnal landscapes in Milan, images held in a delicate balance between the softness of an unreal light and the rigid geometry of architecture, around which the photographs are formally constructed.