Professional Experience
FERNANDO NATALICI - BIOGRAPHY
I was very fortunate to have started my career in New York in the early seventies. The city was effervescent with art and culture that reflected the changes from the sixties in every creative field. I was studying graphic design at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, and soon landed a job at a design studio, never forgetting my true love for travel, adventure, writing, photography, film and music. Before I bought my first 35mm camera and learned to develop and print my own black and white photos, I already had an idea of what I wanted to do and which photographers inspired me the most. Museums, Libraries, Record and Book Stores, as well as Jazz and Rock Clubs were and still are my favorite places to be in New York.
In 1976 and 1977 I worked with independent film director Amos Poe in 2 films (Unmade Beds and The Foreigner) as art director and still photographer. Among the actors involved were Debbie Harry, vocalist of the group Blondie, and others, The work generated many magazine features, articles and exhibitions. From that point on I started working in independent films and video projects in many capacities. There was always great music happening all over New York in the many clubs.
Soon I ventured on my own, starting a design/photography studio and embarked in many photo projects as well as developing a body of work; starting to exhibit and have my work in important collections, museums, galleries in the U.S., Europe and Brazil.
My work has been seen in many magazines, CD covers, books, as well as music videos, travel shows and websites I have exhibited frequently in New York, Canada, Europe and Brazil. Since 1998 I started to show my work in a more accessible way with the creation of “Mundo Fernando” a traveling exhibit/Pop Up Shop concept which I have carried and held in one-day exhibits in night clubs, schools, cultural centers, music festivals, in my travels. This concept has enabled me to receive instant feedback and has reached thousands of young collectors, and it has given me great satisfaction.
My photographs are part of the collections of the Museu da Imagem e Som, São Paulo, Brasil; Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Forth Worth, TX; Fotoptica Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil; Mr. Paul Schaffer, New York; Charles Bronson, Los Angeles, CA; Mr. Nelson Motta and Ana Lontra-Jobim, Brazil.
I participated in many group exhibitions and some solo shows as such: Galerie Paralela at The Art Basel Fair 2009, Miami; Galerie de la Municipalité Regional d/Ottawa-Carleton, Ottawa, Canada, Museu da Imagem e Som, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Rhode Island School of Design, Soho Photo Gallery, New York, Rizzoli Bookstore, New York
I have done many commissioned work such as Brazil in Images – Archive of 30 photos of Brazil for Yale University Languages Department. The Faces of ASA – Portraits of Students and Instructors for School Exhibit and Book. “For Billy” – Photo Documentation of jazz musicians at a benefit for jazz drummer Billy Higgins at Avery Fisher Hall, featured in Jazzis Magazine.
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.In 1999 I worked in “Le Cure Salée” a documentary on Tuareg Life in the Sahara, Niger, Africa for Dutch TV as Cameraman and Still photographer. In 2003 I went back to Africa for“Les Bateaux de Niger” a Documentary on life and survival on Africa’s Niger River for Dutch TV .
Among my favorites is the documentary “Altares de Havana” 2009 for Educational Video for Saint John’s University on Cultures in Transition. In 2010 I went back to Africa to Yaunde, Cameroon, to shoot the video “Cameroon Baseball” a Documentary about the popularity of Baseball in Africa..
My passion, admiration and respect for people in general, their culture and traditions, has incorporated into my work. Since I was 16 and started traveling in Brazil, I realized it‘s all about being here now, enjoying it, even with all the current world affairs. No matter how difficult life is, people will make the best of what they have and go on with their lives. #