Diaries of a Wet Bird by Sophia Cutino
A Photo London Book Club Selection
“Today and all to come are my soft and slow murder,” photographer Sophia Cutino writes in the opening poem of her debut book. An afterimage of adolescent experience in an era of constant performance, Cutino breaks down the self through evocation.
Praise for the book
“At turns electrifying and elegiac, image pairings work to romanticise and contort the notion of youth. We see dreamy scenes of girlhood, the kind fit for an early Sofia Coppola film – lipstick-stained cigarettes, half-naked bodies lounging across lawns and lakes, intoxicated summer nights. Opposite are shots of roadkill, trash, and graveyards. Beauty and nihilism, hand in hand.” —Madeleine Pollard, DAZED
“The images have a real life feel, an emotion of being on the inside…[Cutino’s photos] weren’t just two-dimensional images, they have depth, scope, and scale that I could rotate, enlarge, and connect with the next image in the series. The next thing in her life… The graphically decomposing animals disrupt the stroll down the museum of memory lane and remind us that life is impermanent, imperfect. Wabi-sabi.” —Lee Halvorsen, PhotoBook Journal
“In Diaries of a Wet Bird, Cutino invites us into her world—one where youth is both cherished and mourned, and where every image holds the weight of a moment slipping away. Cutino is masterful at translating emotion into imagery, the tensions between nostalgia and detachment, and the influences that have guided her artistic journey.” —Nthatile Mavuso, The Luna Collective
“[Diaries of a Wet Bird] is a restless pursuit of preservation, an attempt to hold on to what refuses to sit still… Cutino doesn’t just capture youth—she dissects it. She worships and destroys it in the same breath.” —Birce Naz Köş, Based Istanbul
“Sophia has a gift for letting her subjects fully inhabit the frame. It doesn’t matter if it’s a bird, a face, or a body — we’re treated to the same gently probing approach where questions are proposed but answers are never demanded. For as immediate and grounded as the pictures are, Diaries of a Wet Bird always seems like it’s levitating just above the ground… The final sequence of the book feels like a dreamy-tone poem out of a Tarkovsky film, where grass gives way to shadows, fire, passing, sleep, reflections.” —Danny’s Photobook Corner
About the author
Sophia Cutino is a documentary photographer and experimental filmmaker. Cutino received a Bachelor of Arts in Culture and Media from The New School in New York City and is currently completing her master’s degree in Journalism at University of California, Berkeley.
She began her career in California, contributing photography and writing to magazines, art collectives and festivals. She also has written and directed several short films, screening them across New York City, before moving on to become Eleven and a Half Journal’s art director and a photography assistant for menswear brand RSVLTS. Most recently, Cutino’s work has been featured in SF Gate and Oakland North.
She photographs in 35mm and digital, and films in 6mm, 8mm and digital video.
