Artist Spotlight - Norma Picciotto — Contemporary Art Curator Magazine

Biography

Born in Milan, where she currently lives and works, Norma Picciotto is a professional journalist and photographer. She began her career at a very young age, documenting news events and capturing some of the most emblematic moments in Italian history. Through the De Bellis photo agency, which she co-founded, her team’s images were published by the country’s leading newspapers.

Over time, her path led her toward the world of art, where photography became a tool for personal and poetic expression. After years spent observing and recording the external world, she turned her gaze inward, creating images that blend dream and reality, memory and vision. Her spiritual and emotional research translates into evocative and symbolic compositions that delve into the human soul.

Through refined digital processing, she combines the real and the imaginary, crafting a distinctive visual language that intertwines intimate experience with global awareness. Her work reflects on beauty, fragility, and transformation—often set against the backdrop of contemporary social and environmental concerns.

Her photographs have been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, both in Italy and internationally, affirming her as a compelling voice on the contemporary art scene.

Awards

Honorable Mention, International Photography Awards (IPA), 2020
Finalist, Arte Laguna Prize, Arsenale of Venice, 2015
1st Prize, Fiorino d’Oro, XXXII Florence Prize, Palazzo Vecchio – Hall of the Five Hundred, 2014
Arts, Sciences, Lettres Award, Société Académique de Paris, 2013
Genova Arte Award, 5th Biennale of Contemporary Art, 2013
Finalist, Florence Prize, Centro Culturale Europa, 2012

Auctions

MILAN: Sotheby’s headquarters – Auction in support of the Friends of the Israel Museum, 2019
Artwork sold: Past and Future
MILAN: Sotheby’s at PAC – Pavilion of Contemporary Art – Charity auction for “Il Volo”, 2016
Artwork sold: Between Sea and Land

Solo Exhibitions

NICE: Parc Phoenix, under the patronage of the Cultural Office of Nice
Conversation Between Trees and Man, 2022
PARIS: ERM Gallery, Avenue de Messine
Qohelet, 2018
TURIN: National University Library, under the patronage of the Municipality of Turin
Song of Songs, 2017
LECCE: Medieval Jewish Museum, Palazzo Taurino
Song of Songs, 2016
TRANI: Polo Museale, Palazzo Lodispoto
Song of Songs, 2016
MILAN: EXPO 2015, Israel Pavilion
Be Fruitful and Multiply, 2015
MILAN: Palazzo Bocconi, Press Club, in collaboration with UniCredit Private
Washed by the Same Sea, 2014

TEL AVIV: Italian Embassy of Israel, under the patronage of the Italian Cultural Institute
Washed by the Same Sea, 2013
MILAN: The House of World Cultures, under the patronage of the Province of Milan
Washed by the Same Sea, 2013#
VENICE: Palazzo Ca’ Zanardi, under the patronage of the Veneto Region
Traces of Time
COLOGNE: Italian Cultural Institute for Photokina and Photoszene
Traces of Time, 2012
FERRARA: Jewish Book Festival
Traces of Time, 2012
PARIS: Chateauform’ – Galerie de Courcelles
The Enigma, 2012
PARIS: Espace Faubourg St. Honoré and Source 13 Galleries, Rive Gauche and Rive Droite
Traces of Time, 2012
MILAN: Matalon Foundation Museum, under the patronage of the Lombardy Region
Traces of Time, 2011

Group Exhibitions

PARIS: Grand Palais Éphémère – Société des Artistes Français, 2023
MIRANO: PaRDeS – Contemporary Art Research Lab, 2022
MILAN: Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation Museum
Excellence Has No Color, 2016
ASTI: Palazzo Mazzetti Museum
Future Memories, 2016
MIAMI: Fine Art Gallery
The Miami Art Expo, 2015
VENICE: Arsenale – Arte Laguna Prize Finalists Exhibition, 2015
FLORENCE: Palazzo Vecchio, Hall of the Five Hundred
Florence Prize Winners Exhibition, 2014 – First Prize Fiorino d’Oro, Photography Section
MILAN: Biblioteca Umanistica dell’Incoronata
Points of View, 2014
MONACO: Art Monaco – Contemporary Art Fair, Côte d’Azur, 2014
MILAN: MIA Photo Fair, 2014–2021
GENOA: Genovarte – 5th Biennale of Contemporary Art, 2013
PARIS: International Triennial of Contemporary Art, 2013
MILAN: Accessible Art – Il Sole 24 Ore, 2012
PARIS: Madeleine Cathedral Meditation – Light, 2012

Artist Statement

My visual research stems from the intersection between reality and vision, between historical memory and poetic imagination. After many years working as a photojournalist, I chose to turn photography into a tool for inner reflection and symbolic narration. Each image is born from a layering of elements – documentary shots, urban fragments, traces of human presence – which I rework to create a dreamlike dimension where matter meets the invisible.

Through my work, I explore themes such as fragility, the transformation of places, and the relationship between time and identity. My images, suspended between memory and vision, speak of what remains and what changes, of beauty that endures even in decay, of human presence even in its absence. In this subtle space between photography and art, between document and metaphor, I seek a personal language that expresses the fragility and strength of the human condition.

www.normapicciotto.com
Instagram: picciottonorma