The Villa Doria Pamphili photographs present an example of Bittencourt’s dialogue with nature, particularly how nature is envisioned and experienced in a contemporary urban environment. The expansive Villa Doria Pamphili park on Rome’s Gianicolo hill is comparable in size to New York’s Central Park, and it is much used and beloved by the surrounding community. Yet these photographs maintain an almost total exclusion of human figures — we feel we are walking through a place that has the power of a sacred grove. In Bittencourt’s photographs, taken in different seasons and at different times of day, we sense the motion of the trees, be it a subtle movement caused by a breeze, or the more rarefied movement of the trees through years and decades

Bittencourt grew up in São Paulo, Brazil, and now lives in New York City. Her photographic works include portraits of artists and a recent series on the Doria Pamphili park in Rome. She has made video documentaries on Red Grooms, Alex Katz, and Rudy Burckhardt. The latter was shown at the 22nd International Festival of Films on Art in Montreal in March 2004, and won a “Best of Festival” award at the Berkley Film and Video Festival in October 2004. She is currently working on a video about Kiki Smith.