In some ways, every photographer has a unique process, from the way they eye up a composition to the choices they make in post-production. However, never have I come across a photographer who transforms street scenes into gold and silver metallic works of art, nor one who presents these in 3D books that add an immersive dimension to experiencing their work.
But this is how Sandra Cattaneo Adorno, a street photographer from Brazil who, in fact, picked up a camera for the first time at 60 years old, goes about her work. You might see Adorno’s approach as elaborate or luxurious, but I see it as her way of expressing a unique and abstract view of life through the lens.
This year, Adorno will exhibit her latest project, Fragments of Light. For this body of work, Adorno chose to print her images using metallic silver ink on navy blue paper to “transform quiet scenes of daily life into mystical works of art”. A very intentional decision, perhaps the reflective nature of the color silver represents the fragments of life and energy we see in the scenes.
Adorno’s previous book, Ten Years (2024) – a celebration of a decade in photography – employed an equally unique approach, albeit with different metallic choices. For this book, Adorno printed her images in gold ink on matte black paper, capturing the warmth, nostalgia and melancholic memories of life in Rio de Janeiro as only someone who’s lived there could.
Sandra Cattaneo Adorno: Fragments of Light, will be on view May 9 – November 22, 2026, at Palazzo Bembo during the 8th Edition of Personal Structures: Confluences, Venice. You can find her previous books Ten Years (2024), Scarti di Tempo (2022) and Águas de Ouro (2020) at Radius Books.
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