Italian, a past life in London, now based in Istanbul, Valentina Abenavoli is an editor and book designer, who prefers reading photography in lyrical sequence, being constantly on the edge between awareness and reveries. After a degree in photography and visual communication, a master in book publishing and several odd jobs in 2012 she founded AKINA, together with Alex Bocchetto. Their publishing house produces challenging photobooks by emerging and established photographers, in limited editions and often handmade.

In 2016 she published her first photobook as author titled Anaesthesia,followed by The Harvest, both part of an unfinished trilogy around the subjects of empathy and evil. Her artistic practice includes photography, video, reappropriation of visual material, writing. She participated in several group and solo exhibitions, panel discussions, book and dummy award competition as juror. On a side, she runs workshops and works freelance as editor and book designer.

From Theory to the Book. Exploring the editing process in photobooks

FROM THE THEORY TO THE BOOK is a collaborative workshop aimed to analyse how to read an image, understanding the endless possibilities of the editing process and its meaningful limitations, as well as exploring and developing a method both creative and practical, with a hand-on approach for the sequence.

Participants are encouraged to develop visual and conceptual non-linear narrative and use text or other material. Engaging with questions around reality and fiction, as well as objectivity and subjectivity, the workshop will lead to better understand the approach to publishing a photobook.
Notions of printing, binding, designing and marketing will be covered.

Participants should have a photographic project in an advanced state, not necessarily completed, which can be turn into a publication.