We could learn a lot from Alessia Gunawan, the photographic journal captured by her and boyfriend Giovanni Nordio encapsulates a sense of ‘reality’ in a world of images contrived and constructed for the benefit of viewers on a social media feed. This creative is not one to define her practice so easily, her approach to work is one of fluidity which strikes up important questions and delves deeper into burgeoning social issues we face as a modern society. On her recent trip to Morocco, Gunawan wanted to revisit the spontaneity in photography, and I must say, it really pays off.

“‘We felt as if we were in an alternative reality. In Mars perhaps’”

What first inspired you to become a photographer and an artist?
I started taking photographs for fun at a very young age. It came quite intuitively. I started to take photographs of my friends and, eventually, I started being more particular about what I wanted to capture. This led me to undertake my university studies in photography, which were mainly focused on the theoretical aspect. It helped me a lot in understanding what my interests were and how I wanted to voice them. Nevertheless, it wasn’t always a smooth ride. Because of the sole focus on theory and the lack of practice, I started to experiment with my friends which led me to explore my creativity and get involved in fashion photography. After a while, I understood I wanted to do a masters degree and, since then, I have really been able to put my time into researching and dedicate a lengthier amount of time towards the development of each project. This has been challenging at times but it is what makes me the happiest.

What are the main influences behind your work?
My work usually focuses on aspects of current social problems with pop culture elements added to these. For my first work, “Jill Army”, for example, I was delving into Korean popular music which has recently taken a fundamental role in our contemporary global culture. Researching specifically on the unique marketing strategy and dissecting the industry of the entertainment companies was a fundamental part of the project. While also questioning how we approach fame, validity and obsessive culture. Furthermore, for “Ur My Fantasy”, I was researching the topic of intimacy. Studies have shown that Gen Z has been the least sexually-engaged generation in comparison to past ones, so by utilising this as my starting point, I dissected the possible causes that may have led to this phenomenon. I was interested in the hyper awareness of how to deal with acts of intimacy and personal attention the hyper saturation of the sexual body and the need of escaping it, reaching for a more spiritual connection. My research extended to camming websites, asmr, spas, tantric sex and a lot of subjects which captivated me. These are examples but, to answer your question, yes, my work usually touches a lot of different aspects that I am interested in a particular moment of my life.

The images you took in Morocco are wonderful and really capture moments of beauty in everyday life. How did you choose your subject matter and what direction did your creative process take whilst on your trip?
The photo journal was done in a very simple way. Let’s rent a camera and take photographs of anything we would find fascinating. The photographs would at times start conversations between us, functioning as instigators, or as a result for these discussions. We would say that along this trip, we ended up talking a lot about the authentic and the artificial landscape (both culturally and architecturally) and the effects of tourism. Nevertheless, we had no set boundaries.

What are the highlights from your road trip in Morroco?
The hikeeee! We did not encountered anyone for so many hours, didn’t have internet and there wasn’t a proper map that would lead us to the tribe so I was freaking out a bit. But after finding the tribe ( thank god for donkey’s fecale traces, never been so comforted in seeing poop in my life tbh ), I was really able to process the beauty of it all. We continued walking for so long and we did not want to stop. We came across wild goats, a change in different landscapes, we found a small man-made cave and whilst returning to the smallest town, we found an abandoned city. Oh and a river which we had to cross. It smelt like a hot Mediterranean summer. It was sweet.

You described this project as ‘a genuine need of going back to the instinctive need to take photographs’ and there is a feeling when looking at this imagery that it is both instinctive and intuitive in nature. Has the way you go about photography and image making evolved since this project?
I haven’t actually been taking photographs in a very long time. I started with fashion photography, which I still do sometimes, but I am mostly concentrating on different medias. Perhaps my practice has now turned towards a different direction, one that is more similar to fine art rather than photography, I would say. For this journal, both me and Giovanni told ourselves to simply not be afraid of just taking photographs and be solely guided by intuition. I would say that this project does not really define my practice, but then again, I have never really wanted to define myself and constrict myself to one media or form of communication. I am interested in a multitude of things, all very different from one other and that’s okay. I can do things separately from each other. This journal, I guess, was more of a nice activity to do with Giovanni.

The photographs included in your visual journal of Morroco could be considered fairly different from your previous work. What do you believe are the main similarities and differences between now and then?
Well, I wouldn’t really consider this journal to be a part of my work. It is something that I spontaneously did with my Giovanni, purely out of fun. To simply take photographs of what we found fascinating and talk about these visual elements. My own projects are very different from this. A complete separate thing actually! Haha. I work mostly with video, installation and concentrate on a whole other range of topics that come from months of research. It is that body of work that really defines me as an artist.

What are your plans for the future? Have you got any exciting projects or trips lined-up?
I would like to take things step by step, so, for now, I will be going to Indonesia for a month to work on a personal project I have been researching for a while and maybe there will be a solo show coming up soon but I can’t say too much about that now :-)