Ideas of Reference
Rovegno makes revelations in book-making aswell, a hand-crafted photo book made with risograph printed covers and inserts that takes the stage in term of functionality and encompassing a personable look. The interior pages are bound with tape, heated, melted, and trimmed by hand, the book serves as a dedication to the art form of bookmaking. And it adds an unexpected experience to the work: the seamless process of opening and closing and reopening this book transports you to Rovegno’s own viewing experience as if you were the one thatc crafted the project yourself. With the same vision as origami, every fold and unfold is a new vision into Rovegno’s every day. The soothing chronology of the photography connected anxious and pointed moments of life. It’s a reminder of the peace caused by obsession-made art.
office asked Rovegno to take a different approach to his interview. Instead of having one of our writers speak to him, we asked him to interview himself. The conversation is physically transcribed over a few of Rovegno’s selected photos. It’s a true example of the peace an artist may find only with himself. Rovegno speaks on experiencing the form of fixed delusion called “ideas of reference” and how photography brought control into his world.
Left — When suffering an episode resulting in having ideas of reference, for me at least, the outside world was too harsh… Everyone was in on it but no one would admit it. To be afraid to go outside is torture. I used to say that reality was too harsh, so I drugged and left reality as much as possible. So I used a camera to look through because reality was too harsh to look at head-on.
Right — So that’s what I did, I used the camera as a barrier, a buffer between myself and the world. In the very beginning, I thought I was gathering proof—I thought perhaps “they” would stop being so relentless if they knew I noticed. The more and more I went outside the more comfortable things got. It took a lot of time and a lot of photos. The practice of making pictures—obsessively—began. It’s almost as if the world is broken. Or maybe it always was and people don’t notice. I for one didn’t at first but when the delusions are there. Every little thing means something. It’s a symbol. It represents something else.
Above — To acknowledge it’s broken and accept it cannot be fixed or maybe it’s my thinking that’s broken. It’s not like I could be talked out of these ideas… Slowly…very slowly, the obsession with the outside, the inconsistencies, the paranoia, were able to take place behind the camera, while viewing this world I made for myself. Since then…4 years ago, also 5 years ago, also two years ago, I compulsively photographed the world around me, the small inconsistencies, the strange or out of place whatever it was.
Left — Naturally, my interest led me down the rabbit hole of, “What could I do with this medium?” What have others done? But before that, I guess it was just getting enthralled with everything tangible with photography… in the darkroom I could now separate myself from the moments of the action of photo taking and look at it as a picture inside four walls. By this point, I gained my sanity back, though I do still give merit to the way I thought then.
Right — And I still to this day shoot compulsively, indiscriminate to subject matter, and then later on I get to sit with these images, I journal my thoughts over them the way I was told to empty my mind. I can still fall back to the way I thought before it I’m not careful. I can use those thoughts to make something new, I can rip it apart and sew it back together.
Left — So I’m left with endless rolls of film, countless photos. With “Ideas of Reference” I wanted to attempt to visualize what that mind looked like for me. The subtle connections make the most meaning. Small events that are meaningless by themselves but tell a story when together.
Right — And I don’t know whether or not I’ll be “successful” in telling this story—but by making it real on paper, it gives it validity to me at least. And the book is small, it’s an object that can be lost in a room or in the corner of a bag if you’re not careful. It’s simply an expression… an exercise in trying to show anyone that wants to understand why I see the way I do.
Above — My small world, out of a slice of our big world. Limited by my own perspective but aware that I’ve seen the world in ways many do not get the chance to.
Joe Ro, 2022.
The "Ideas of Reference" book can be purchased here.
