MANUEL SCRIMA
MILANO
+39 392 2185400
MANUELSCRIMA@GMAIL.COM
Manuel Scrima is an Italian-Belgian photographer, director, and artist whose far-reaching work spans several continents. A sense of classical and neoclassical inspiration is always visible in his artworks, often deriving from distant and exotic cultures.
2006 is the cornerstone year of his career as he engages with the primordial nature at the heart of African culture; Africa Awakens is his most renowned and successful exhibition to date, hitting both galleries and museums in France, England, Ireland, Finland, Italy, and Kenya. Created in support of two Kenyan ONG – ICROSS and NWI – the images help raise money for their projects. Africa Awakens portrays the dignity and beauty of a continent disrespected and misconceived by the media. UNESCO, Doctors Without Borders, and CARE International, these international realities all support and strengthen Manuel’s vision with UNESCO appointing him solo artist to exhibit and celebrate Kenya’s culture. In 2010, some of his most representative pictures are exhibited at Art Basel in Miami. Manuel’s vision dives deep into the core of African culture, in search of what stands most true to the African people and who they in the primeval race that seems to be fading in the shadow of capital expansion. The artist dreams of recreating what is now permanently corrupted by progress and globalisation through his own imagination. Because of the tricks of light and shadows in his images, parallels are drawn to the works of Dutch painters as they recreate the warm and dreaming intimacy typical of a classical vision of backgrounds far from western reality.
In 2009, Manuel returns to Milan and decides to engage with the world of commercial photography and fashion; within a short period of time, he begins to shoot for Levi's, Iceberg, Gucci, Les Hommes, Yamamay, Carlo Pignatelli, Dockers, Romeo Gigli, Silvian Heach, Lancetti, IKEA, Malloni.
In 2010, he begins a collaboration with artist and designer Angelo Cruciani and embarks on an adventure between Asia and Europe. Together, they establish several projects merging art, communication, and fashion (i.e. Made in China, She’s Not A Man).
From 2011 to 2014, Manuel is the Image Director of brands Misael, Milan and Beauvillon, Shanghai.
In 2012, the Afreak exhibition, curated by Alessandro Turci, is part of the Italian Photo Festival. Here, the artist compares African and Asian cultures through images and video installation, trying to understand how an entire world and primeval race so majestic and true have become so contaminated by other cultures voracity and by technology. The aim is to spark an awakening in our understanding of African culture. A video shows a Kenyan shopping mall in the vicinity of a Maasai village. ‘This comparison starts from the need of getting back our consciousness, our authenticity and therefore our ability to discern.’
LOVVISM (2015) sees exhibited Manuel’s images of performances and flash mobs about love promoted by Angelo Cruciani and several photographic painted works.
From 2013 to 2019, he is the Image Director of Yezael by Angelo Cruciani (Milano).
In 2016, Manuel works in Niger for IOM (United Nations) where he creates images and a documentary about African migrants’ conditions.
In 2018, he begins to dedicate himself to photographing artists, young singers in particular.
In 2019, his short film ICEBERG is out, a music video linked to a short story set in an imaginary Italian suburb. It is the first Italian video to land on the World Star Hip Hop platform, the bible of American music. The short film collects awards in Los Angeles and Atlanta.
Also in 2019, Manuel is the recipient of an award for the direction of the fashion movie WHOMAN in Milan, and the Alfa award for his career as photographer in Aci Reale.
In 2020, his exhibition DISEMBODY opens at Fabbrica Eos Contemporary Art in Milan. Curated by Chiara Canali, it is a research to reinterpret neoclassical aesthetic with kaleidoscopic images and collages.
In August 2021 he exhibited SEBASTIAN'S in Palazzolo Acreide (Sicily) together with Corrado Levi . It reinterprets, through the technique perfected in Disembody, the martyrdom of San Sebastiano. The exhibition project merges Christian iconography and classical Greek statuary into a single experience.
In September 2021 he won the New York Vision Award for the video "PIE" by Sananada Maitreya (ex Terence Trent't D'Arby), already awarded in New York at the Movie Awards in May of the same year.
In October 2022 he exhibited a preview of the exhibition Prosopon 2030 at the Italian Cultural Institute in London. The exhibition is then launched in March 2023 at the Provincial Art Gallery of Salerno. For this exhibition, the artist meets 2030 Generation Z kids and talks to them about the future and sustainability. From this path will be born 2030 portraits, 2030 recorded voices, 2030 videos of dreamy eyes and a collage of 2030 fabrics, each with a desire destined to come true.
In parallel with his career as an artist, in 2018 he founded the model agency Models Milano, of which he is currently director.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Prosopon 2030 - Complesso Monumentale Spirito Santo in Capriglia (SA) , 22nd April- 22nd December 2023 - CURATED BY CHIARA CANALI & ANDREA IOVINO
Prosopon 2030 - PINACOTECA PROVINCIALE - Salerno , 10th- 29th March 2023 - CURATED BY CHIARA CANALI & ANDREA IOVINO
Prosopon 2030 preview - Italian Institute of Culture - London , 14th- 30th October 2022 - CURATED BY CHIARA CANALI & ANDREA IOVINO
SEBASTIAN’S with Corrado Levi - San Sebastiano Contemporary - Palazzolo Acreide (Siracusa) , 3rd August- 10th September 2021
DISEMBODY – FABBRICA EOS CONTEMPORARY ART – MILAN – SEPTEMBER/DECEMBER 2020
AFRICA – Permanent Exhibition Pegaso University, CENTRO DIREZIONALE ISOLA F2, 19th FLOOR, NAPLES – APRIL 2018
AFREAKA – III FESTIVAL FOTOGRAFICO ITALIANO – BUSTO ARSIZIO – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012 – CURATED BY ALESSANDRO TURCI
SHE IS NOT A MAN – MISAEL SPACE, MILAN – FEBRUARY 2012
MADE IN CHINA – MISAEL SPACE, MILAN – SEPTEMBER 2011
KENYA WEEK – UNESCO PALACE, PARIS – OCTOBER 2010 – PORTAL.UNESCO.ORG
AFRICA AWAKES – BEDOUIN LOUNGE, NAIROBI – AUGUST 2008
– TAMPERE, FINLAND – SEPTEMBER 2008 – GALLERIA EMIL, TAMPERE-TALO – JANUARY 2009 – GREENLANE GALLERY, ILE SAINT LUIS, PARIS – NOVEMBER 2008 – CULTURAL CENTRE CAISA, HELSINKI – FEBRUARY 2009 – GREENLANE GALLERY, DINGLE, IRELAND – MAY 2009 – RAMOMA, MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NAIROBI – JULY/AUGUST 2009 – LIGHTHOUSE, POOLE’S CENTRE FOR THE ARTS, DORSET, UK – JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010TERRE D'AFRICA – PALAZZO DEL COMUNE, CREMONA – JULY/AUGUST 2006
GALLERIA CAFFÈ LETTERARIO, ROME – JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008TERRE D'AFRICA IN LIBRERIA – CREMONA, MILAN, TRIESTE, ROME
– TRAVELLING EXHIBITION ACROSS EIGHT BOOKSHOPS AND LITERARY CAFéS TO PROMOTE A CHARITY PHOTOGRAPHIC PUBLICATION
COLLECTIVE EXHIBITION
OTHER IDENTITY 2022 - Guidi & Schoen Arte Contemporanea GENOVA - 18th March - 16th April 2022
FUORI TUTTI – FABBRICA EOS, MILAN – DECEMBER 2020/FEBRUARY 2021
CONTAINER LOVE – REEPERBAHN FESTIVAL, HAMBURG – SEPTEMBER 2017
LOVVISM – MILAN ART & EVENT CENTER, MILAN – JULY/AUGUST 2015
THE HEART OF CHILDREN – PALAZZO CORSINI, FLORENCE – JUNE 2011
IL PIÙ BELLO DEL BELLO – VICENZA – MARCH 2011
SENTIERO SEGRETO – VICENZA – DECEMBER 2010 – WWW.MISAEL.EU/
ILLUMINATI – ART BASEL, MIAMI – TALKING DOLPHIN LLC. – DECEMBER 2010
HUMAN GAMES – MILAN, CAPE TOWN – JUNE 2010 – WWW.MISAEL.EU/
AFRICA – EXPO SCUOLA 2008, SALERNO – NOVEMBER 2008 – SPONSORED BY BIMED – WWW.BIMED.NET – WWW.EXPOSCUOLA.INFO
WITH GRACE – PILLAR ROOM, DUBLIN – OCTOBER 2006
