A blood-splattered surgeon after an emergency horse op: Andrea Modica’s best photograph
‘You’d have to be out of your mind not to want to photograph this incredible woman. And it was only afterwards that I realised she looks like a medieval statue, a madonna’
TL;DR
- Photographer Andrea Modica's work spans 40 years of travels to Italy, documented in her new book and exhibition.
- A featured image was taken at a horse hospital near Bologna, focusing on a surgeon post-emergency operation.
- The surgeon is depicted covered in blood and intestinal contents after operating on a horse with a gastrointestinal obstruction.
- Modica used an 8x10 large-format camera, which limits the type of shots she can take.
- She aims for subjects to pose naturally, reacting to her and the camera without appearing to pose.
- Modica later saw a resemblance between the surgeon and medieval statues of saints and madonnas.
- The photograph is described as elegant, containing horror, and showcasing conflict with the subject being both powerful and covered in blood.
- The exhibition 'Andrea Modica: Italian Story' is on display at Alice Austen House in Staten Island, New York, until February 20.