Ddiarte Ddiarte
Interview with Ddiarte – Zé Diogo and Diamantino Jesus
2019 Winner, Bronze in Advertising, Self-Promotion, “Brainstorming”
Diamantino Jesus (Madeira,1969) and Zé Diogo (Madeira,1966) compose DDiArte. What was born as a painting workshop where both worked their oils on canvas, would become a few years later what it is today–a team that creates digital photography with an impeccable technique and an overwhelming creativity.
They like to take up great classics and capture their own narrative; that, and their fascination for the human body, has led them to create a large format work in which the old and the modern are mixed without any shame; indeed, they do it with total naturalness.
Q: Do you remember your first photo?
Ddiarte: Yes. It was a kind of selfie of us naked, because we didn’t have models to work with yet.
Q: What style of photography do you like?
Ddiarte: Artistic nudes but with any type of message, not only for the beauty of the human body.
Q: In a word, what is photography for you?
Ddiarte: A message.
Q: What is the most difficult feeling to capture in a photo?
Ddiarte: For us, it would be Indifference.
Q: Is there a photograph that made you cry?
Ddiarte: Our photo “Prevention against breast cancer”
Q: Is there any specific city where you would like to have a studio? Why?
Ddiarte: Barcelona. Because it is a city full of life and art, also because it is a cosmopolitan city near the sea and beaches.
Q: What would you say to someone starting out in the world of photography?
Ddiarte: You don’t need to have the best or expensive material to start, you need talent and originality and to have a good capacity to work hard for want you want to achieve.
Q: Where do you get motivation and inspiration from in your work and in photography?
Ddiarte: The motivation is the natural need of creation new pieces or art, it’s our way of life. Inspiration comes from lots classic paintings, mythology, religion and from many nowadays situations around the world, like racism, pollution, environment, economy etc.
Q: Describe a real-life situation that inspired you?
Ddiarte: The recent economic crises that harmed millions of human beings around the world, inspired us to create “Dante dream”
Inspired by mythology, religion or the mundane, they seek to send current messages in one more twist to that mix between classicism and modernity. Messages of our time captured with works of inspiration from remote times; a discourse in which there is room for strong social criticism. Each element is in the correct place, each character acquires the correct pose, nothing is left to chance, everything is measured. A scenography in which there is no lack of feelings expressed by its protagonists–love, suffering, hate, courage, death, life.
