You have been working for Massimo since a long time, do you remember the first time you met?
Kate Collins: I first discovered Massimo’s work when I was in my last year at Middlebury College in Vermont. The senior art history majors were part of a committee which made decisions about which contemporary pieces to purchase for the museum collection and Massimo’s Riccione Diptych was one of the options (which we did decide to purchase).
After graduation, I began working for Isabella Brancolini’s contemporary photography gallery in Florence, Italy. She had been working with Massimo for a few years so I met him then in 2002. The first year I went to Art Basel on my own, maybe in 2003 or 2004, Massimo took me under his wing and I remember walking around the fair with him as he gave me some of his insight, and eating wienerschnitzel at the little hotel he used to stay at right across the German border.
What do you like about its work?
KC: I love discovering the little stories within each photograph and getting lost in the works. After nearly twenty years of working with some of the images, some of the people in them feel like old friends.
Which are you favourite photos and why?
KC: I love so many of the photographs that it’s very hard to choose. I have always been drawn to these images – there are 3 older works (Marina di Pisa, Giovinazzo Tuffo, Punta Tegge), plus the newer image from the Jovanotti Beach concert from the summer of 2019. Some of them are not as well known so they feel a bit like my little secret. I love the diptych in Sardegna with the white rocks which no one else in the studio thinks is a great photo, so it’s become a bit of a joke.
