La Dolce Vita
Diane Epstein in Testaccio Market, Rome
"Italy was my home for two decades, and so many moments will be with me always. Walking down a cobblestone street and glancing up just in time to catch the sunlight shyly caressing the iconic Roman columns. Heading home from the outdoor market with an armful of fresh fruit, zucchini blossoms, artichokes off the vine, and a plump fresh mozzarella di bufala.
I was in the grip of heart-stopping beauty at every turn, it seemed. And everywhere, I perceived this sweet reverence for imperfection and the patina of time, which overlay the ancient trees, the crumbling walls, and the centuries-old structures that still possess an undiminished poise and strength of character.
We are always in a dance with our environment — we shape it, and it shapes us. For me, the feast for the senses that is Italy became an irresistible invitation to take up my camera and join that dance, with its own rhythm and sense of timing, and beauty in its fragility.
For much of my career, I’d been a creativity coach and therapist dealing with matters of the heart and mind. Soon after returning to California, I would seek to create images that become part of that larger universal dance in the external world – images that not only reflect a deep love of life and the art of living, but which also become part of environments that breathe life and vitality into the people who visit, dwell or work in them. Research now tells us what we sensed all along: that there’s a direct connection between design, and the stirring and engagement of positive emotion.
My intuition tells me that somewhere beyond science, it’s possible to listen to my images as well as view them. They have stories to whisper, dreams to evoke.
I’d love to know: When you allow yourself to pause and look deeper into one of the Fresco photographs, when you allow your imagination to be free, what do you see, what do you feel?
Perhaps together we can create an experience that goes beyond and breaks free of the static walls that beg to breathe in something fresh and groundbreaking.
What I know for sure is that I am here on earth to create images that reveal the ancient wisdom, as well as the power of love, illumination and the beauty and luscious, imperfect perfection of nature and all that is alive. I make art that pays tribute to the timeless, that celebrates ageless beauty, and that is intended to make you feel grateful and happy to be alive. Because life is, after all, very sweet indeed.