Paolo della Corte was born in Venice, the city where he actually lives, although he often travels for work. After a degree in Art History at the Ca ‘Foscari University of Venice, he was soon attracted by professional photography, specializing in portraits and cultural reportage, up to become a professor of Photography at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice.
His studies lead him to tell through photos the stories of great artists. In fact, during the various Biennales of Visual Arts, he had the opportunity to meet first in Venice and then in their studios some of the major international personalities such as Louise Bourgeois, Jim Dine, Jannis Kounellis, Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, George Segal, and the Italians Luciano Fabro, Mario Merz, Fabrizio Plessi, Emilio Vedova and Giuliano Vangi.
In recent years, returned more stable in the lagoon, he is dedicated to more personal projects seeking to tell the city especially through the Venetians who live and resist high tides, overtourism and large ships.
Venezia 2050 D.C. ...e venne l'acqua grandissima
A further example is “Venice 2050 AD … and the great high tide came” showing how the city could be in about thirty years. Paolo portrayed 20 Venetians immersed in a large aquarium of the Hotel Aquarius, in Venice, Campo San Giacomo dall’Orio, to turn them into amphibious men swimming and living the “calli”, adapting to the new environment by resisting and not abandoning the city.
Venezia 2050 D.C. …e venne l’acqua grandissima
Flooded Souls
In the 2022 the last series “Flooded Souls“. Fifteen still life of fish from the Venice Lagoon, printed on canvas, submerged in various points of the lagoon and lef t under water for a period of 4/5 months to macerate, fìlled with algae, mud, shellfìsh.
Depending on the exposure to light, current, depth and the point of immersion when they are “fìshed out” they can also tell us about the state of the lagoon and the degree of pollution.
Aquarium Lagunare
Venetian aquarium is a project that documents the main species of fish that are found in the Venetian lagoon