A white horse peeks through the theatre's red curtain and observes the red parrot that flies across flashing lights. Eighteenth century ladies dance to the rhythm of ABBA courted by men in powdered wigs. A music sheet falls from a flying piano and lands on the floor. Flirting eyes, wild dances, the voluntary loss of control and a state of euphoria are the result of the disinhibition provoked by a simple mask.
The Grand Cavalchina Ball, which takes place at the Teatro La Fenice, has been the most exclusive event in the Venice Carnival for over two hundred years. A surreal journey in the Venetian eighteenth century.
Gianni Cipriano is a documentary photographer whose work focuses on contemporary social issues and on the connection between man, its origins and the influence of mass culture. Based in New York and Palermo, Italy, Gianniâ??s clients and publications include The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The International Herald Trubune, Time, Le Monde, MSNBC.com, D Repubblica, Io Donna, Ventiquattro, IL, Courrier International, Vanity Fair Italy, Diario, Esquire Russia, The Sunday Times Magazine and The British Journal of Photography, PepsiCo, Classic Media. He graduated in the 2007/08 Documentary Photography and Photojournalism Program at the International Center of Photography in New York and interned with photojournalists Ron Haviv (VII) and Christopher Anderson (Magnum Photos). He was among the â??Emerging Talentsâ?? of Reportage by Getty Images and now is contributor of the agency. He has been selected for the XXI 2008 Eddie Adams Workshop in New York and since 2009 he is part of Reflexions Masterclass, an international seminar for the teaching of contemporary photography which has hosted some of the finest young authors from the world over. The seminar is conducted by Giorgia Fiorio and Gabriel Bauret. Gianni Cipriano has been nominated for the for the past three years at the Joop Swart World Press Photo Masterclass.
Besides editorial assignments and publications, Gianni has done corporate work for clients such as:
- Novartis Campus, Basel;
- Actes Sud, Arles;
- Teatro La Fenice, Venice;
- Fondazione Venezia, Venice;
- Istituto Nazionale dell Grafica, Rome;
- PepsiCo, New York.
Gianni Cipriano was born in 1983 and has lived in Italy, the United States and Switzerland. He first studied Aerospace Engineering and then Architecture at the University of Palermo, Italy, before moving to New York in 2007.
