FRANCESCO TORI AND LINDA ZAMBOLIN - ONCE A UPON A TIME - PHOTOGRAPHY AS INCARNATION OF PLACE

a series of 35 hand-painted and waxed photographs

 OPENING january 10, 2026 from 1 - 4 pm

Creative Archetype, once upon a time- photography as the incarnation of place

written by Giuseppe Maria Andrea Marrone

The photography of Creative Archetype, the duo composed of Linda Zambolin and Francesco Tori, speaks a language familiar to those who know how to listen to places. Every place has a soul, a vibration, like a voice that completely permeates it, provoking that metaphysical shiver that ignites creative action.

It is about creativity, pure, crystalline, like spring water, a refreshment in the modern contemporary world, blinded by the art of economy, the commercial art that, by virtue of its projection toward the future, loses its own “here and now” of lived experience.

The “present” of life has been lost, of existence, which instead Creative Archetype seems to want to cry out with an elegance that never flaunts but makes one reflect—so originally close to the great questions of humanity.

The hidden voice of the world, that whispers in the place, stripped of interest, from the chaotic race toward nothingness, does not so much provide answers but rather makes us ask: who are we? A trivial question, perhaps yes, perhaps not at all, certainly tied to each one’s journey. Who has never dared to ask themselves about their own identity?

We are in order to be—this could already seem like an answer, and Creative Archetype leads us to ask, within “who we are,” precisely this. Who are we? We are to be, and to be we must absolutely push away non-being, the void. We must “fill ourselves with being,” with what allows us to appreciate the present moment, like emotion.

Creative Archetype feeds on and is nourished by emotions. The vintage, the meticulous recovery of time in the photographed image, is precisely this: a will to welcome history as return, and this return—the inner journey of each person to and for themselves—is a path of recovery of human identity, of the image that presents humanity to itself as a being of emotion, not only of reason, of logos.

Once upon a time recovers the density of present existence, which is otherwise rarefied in the current world. It seems like a game in reverse: the photography that fixes the image in this project by Creative Archetype is, in fact, deliberately treated to appear nineteenth-century, romantic, with a blurred aspect—and yet, it has an enormous sharpness of focus, because it shows us, makes us truly see what matters: the strength of place, its voice, it makes the soul of that place accessible. This is in contrast with the clarity of certain photography, perhaps perfect, but that renounces the right to imperfection.

It is imperfection that makes us human, and thus along the imperfect detail runs the capacity to feel oneself and perceive one’s own uniqueness—what truly makes us perfect to ourselves, making us therefore unique, but also free. Free to be, authentic, not to appear according to a pre-established canon, a structure. It is the self that places its own inner Self above the deep valleys of the social mechanism of illusion, of forced perfection, imposed, not chosen. It is not the fruit of will—perfection society imposes itself—while Creative Archetype, with meticulous work beneath the surface of the image, of photography, recovers that vast portion of being that forcefully resists the degradation of imperfection into perfection, and therefore of the Self into a non-Self.

Beneath the skin of the person, it welcomes that stifled cry of personality that would like to come out, even scratch the world, for the sole purpose of saying: “I exist.” Ultimately, no being can fall in love with perfection—whereas, in imperfection lies self-love, forgiveness, and reconciliation with one’s own being.

Creative Archetype deconstructs the present into an image of the past, resolving the present in the continuity between inner and outer, soul and world, which can find resolution only in the subject.

Where, then, is the subject in art? Here it is—in Creative Archetype, it is the subject who exposes itself, its own living flesh, to the public; its own inner sea. Emotion breaks the silence and asserts itself powerfully beyond the concrete barrier of calculating reason.

It is a demanding undertaking, that of Creative Archetype; it is not simple to make oneself into subjects capable of listening in a world that is mostly deaf. But just as Beethoven continued to compose despite his deafness, so too is born a masterpiece of aesthetic sensitivity.

In Once upon a time, Creative Archetype takes nature—understood as a complex system of interaction between human and world—and makes it its own, digested by human subjectivity purified of the impasse condition of contemporary non-being and interest-driven chaos. The result is exceptional: to speak humanly to humanity, all the fruit of a continuous listening to the soul of places, with that characteristic black and white, with the wooden frame, with the gentle surfacing of the image that seems to hover like the ending of a poem—so powerfully evocative.

To conclude, everything flows from emotion and becomes flesh: photography comes to life, acquires lived experience, that of the photographers through emotion, and can carry out the task not of mechanical assumption of reality, but of its comprehension—of something made one’s own, retained.

Once upon a time is not just a photographic project, but the restitution of soul to places and, perhaps, of soul to humanity which, like a sad and lonely wanderer, has traded its own happiness for a need, believing itself to become rich, only to discover itself infinitely poor.

Curatorial Foreword

WRITTEN BY VICTORIA CHAPMAN

“The landscape thinks itself in me, and I am its consciousness.”
— Maurice Merleau-Ponty

Once Upon a Time – Incarnation of Place presents a photographic body of work by Northern Italian artists Linda Zambolin and Francesco Tori, comprising thirty-five images that engage landscape as lived experience rather than representation. Printed on fine art paper and subsequently hand-painted with coffee and sealed with a thin veil of wax through encaustic methodology, each work bears the marks of duration, touch, and material presence—situating the image within a temporal and embodied process.

Rooted in long-term observation and proximity to land, the work reflects on how humans and animals adapt to space over time through attentiveness, coexistence, and responsiveness. The photographic surface operates as a site of accumulation, where image and material converge to register not only what is seen, but how seeing itself unfolds. In this way, the works resist immediacy and spectacle, instead inviting a sustained encounter grounded in perception, patience, and presence.

While Zambolin and Tori are unable to travel to Los Angeles to experience the exhibition firsthand, El Nido by VC Projects extends their inquiry by situating the work within an active discursive framework. Through a series of talks and gatherings, the exhibition opens a platform for dialogue as a ‘living field of inquiry’ with local artists, scholars, and audiences, expanding the conversation around landscape, time, evolution, and alchemical transformation.

This curatorial approach understands the exhibition as both spatial and temporal—unfolding through visual, spoken, and musical exchange. By integrating interdisciplinary contributions alongside the photographic works, Once Upon a Time – Incarnation of Placebecomes a shared field of attention, where land, memory, and creative practice intersect through embodied experience and collective reflection.

TALKS & GATHERINGS — A LIVING FIELD OF INQUIRY

IN CONJUNCTION WITH
LINDA ZAMBOLIN AND FRANCESCO TORI: ONCE UPON A TIME – INCARNATION OF PLACE

SATURDAYS AT 2 PM FROM JANUARY 10 - FEBRUARY 14TH

THIS SERIES OF TALKS AND GATHERINGS UNFOLDS AS A LIVING FIELD OF INQUIRY—BRINGING TOGETHER ARTISTS, MUSICIANS, SCHOLARS, AND GUIDES WHOSE PRACTICES ENGAGE LANDSCAPE NOT AS IMAGE ALONE, BUT AS LIVED, TEMPORAL, AND EMBODIED EXPERIENCE.

HELD WITHIN THE INTIMATE SETTING OF EL NIDO, THESE GATHERINGS INVITE SLOW LISTENING, SHARED REFLECTION, AND SUSTAINED ATTENTION. EACH SESSION APPROACHES LANDSCAPE AS A SITE OF MEMORY, PERCEPTION, MATERIAL PROCESS, AND INNER TRANSFORMATION—WHERE CREATIVE PRACTICE BECOMES A DIALOGUE BETWEEN PLACE, TIME, AND CONSCIOUSNESS.

THROUGH CONVERSATION, SOUND, RITUAL, AND INFORMAL EXCHANGE, TALKS & GATHERINGS OFFERS A SPACE TO PAUSE, REFLECT, AND ENGAGE THE DEEPER RHYTHMS THAT SHAPE BOTH ARTISTIC INQUIRY AND THE HUMAN CONDITION.

P R O G R A M M I N G

JOIN US FOR ARTIST LED TALKS WITH the following creatives

SATURDAYS AT 2 PM FROM JANUARY 10 - FEBRUARY 14TH, all talks begin at 2 pm

1/10 - JOHN NATHAN LEGRANDE, TRANSMUTER, ACTIVATOR, HEALER

John Nathan LeGrand is a transmuter and activator in the healing arts. Over the last 25 years he has navigated the internal landscape of human life. On opening day of El Nido’s: Once Upon a Time - Photography… he will lead a discussion about the relationship of the Inner World with Nature’s Outer World and the language they share. 

1/17 - YURI BOYKO, INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTIST

Yuri Boyko will speak about his relationship with landscape and his photographic series, “Meditation on a Tree.”

Yuri Boyko is an interdisciplinary artist working across photography and site-specific installation. His practice explores individuation, transience, and the embodied perception of place. His work has been exhibited internationally, including Art1307 Instituzione Culturale and Museo della Moda Napoli (Italy), OFF Les Rencontres d’Arles (France), and Fabrik Projects Gallery (Los Angeles).

 Boyko realized Migrating Mind, a site-specific installation at the Napoli Afragola Railway Station designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, The Persona, a public art installation commissioned by the city of West Hollywood. He currently lectures at Donghua University in Shanghai.

1/17 AT 3 PM - ALESSANDRA PASQUINO - — PRODUCER / DIRECTOR

ALESSANDRA PASQUINO WILL READ FROM THE WORKS OF AMERICAN POET AND TRANSLATOR DAVID HINTON, OPENING A CONVERSATION ON CONSCIOUSNESS, LANDSCAPE, AND THE COSMOS—EXPLORING “EMPTINESS” AS A LIVING, CREATIVE FORCE AND INVITING A SHIFT AWAY FROM DUALISTIC THINKING TOWARD A DEEPER SENSE OF KINSHIP BETWEEN HUMANS AND THE EARTH.

ITALIAN-BORN AND LOS ANGELES–BASED, ALESSANDRA PASQUINO IS THE CO-FOUNDER OF GROUNDSTORM MEDIA, AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION COMPANY FOCUSED ON HUMAN-CENTERED STORYTELLING AND THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF ART AND CULTURE. HER WORK SPANS ETHNOGRAPHIC FILMS, MUSIC DOCUMENTARIES, EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS, AND CULTURAL EXHIBITIONS.

IN 2025, SHE WON A LOS ANGELES EMMY FOR THE CHEECH, A PBS ARTBOUND DOCUMENTARY ON CHEECH MARIN’S CHICANO ART COLLECTION, AND PRODUCED A FEATURE DOCUMENTARY ON FOLK SINGER-SONGWRITER JANIS IAN FOR PBS AMERICAN MASTERS, EARNING A SILVER ANTHEM AWARD. HER CURRENT WORK FOCUSES ON DOCUMENTING RESISTANCE TO BIODIVERSITY LOSS AND THE RECOVERY OF ENDANGERED SPECIES—PARTICULARLY THE JAGUAR—ACROSS THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST AND BEYOND.

1/24 - DAVID MATHER, SCHOLAR, ARTIST AND ART HISTORIAN -

Talk and discussion: “Robert Smithson’s Archetypal Landscapes”

 David will invite participants to explore some ways to think in and through geological time, as contrasted with lived, human experience. To anchor this talk, he will revisit the work and writings of Robert Smithson—an artist who framed geological and ecological issues in relation to human temporality.

David is a multidisciplinary scholar and artist who studies, among other things, the history of color in Western art, as well as aspects of human vision and of innovation in image reproduction technology. His training began at UC Santa Cruz (BFA, 1994), and he received a PhD from UC San Diego (2011). He has published his academic research in various publications, including in his recent monograph Futurist Conditions: Imagining Time in Italian Futurism (Bloomsbury, 2020).

1/31 - CL CEDERBLOM, ARTIST, PHOTOJOURNALIST

Will give a Talk on biodynamics and land-based practice through careful observation and lived study.

 JL Cederblom is an artist and photojournalist who grew up on a farm, where her way of seeing was shaped by seasons and the pace of growth. Her talk explores biodynamic study and land-based practice through observation and lived process, reflecting on how attention to cycles, time, and the living world informs creative thinking and making.

 2/7 - ANTHONY CARDELLA, COMPOSER, CONCERT PIANST

Anthony will give a talk exploring the Italian landscape and the composers it has inspired, tracing how place and memory shape musical expression. The afternoon will conclude with an informal piano recital.

Anthony Cardella is an award-winning pianist and composer whose work bridges virtuosic performance, contemporary composition, and interdisciplinary collaboration. He has performed throughout the United States and internationally, and his piano sonata Only Through Time Is Time Conquered premiered at the 2024 Venice Biennale. Based in Los Angeles, he is active as a performer and educator while completing his Doctorate of Musical Arts at the USC Thornton School of Music.

2/ 14 - ESTER SPITZ, WRITER, PERFORMANCE ARTIST, THEATRE-MAKER

Ester will share a talk on exploring land through writing.

Ester Spitz is a Dutch writer and poet. Born in the Netherlands and based in Los Angeles since 1985, she has worked in theater, experimental performance, and film. Since 2010, she has been developing the ES series—a lyrical, long-form exploration of life, psyche, and emotional passage. The first volume was published in March 2020.