Vedute d'Italia

The exhibition Vedute d’Italia (Perspectives of Italy) presents the research of Olivo Barbieri (Carpi, 1954), Nunzio Battaglia (Gela, 1958), Marcello Galvani (Massa Lombarda, 1975) and Luciano Romano (Napoli, 1958) from the MAXXI_Architettura photographic collection with a proposal that follows the direction of research into the landscape and photography started by Luigi Ghirri.
The outline of Ghirri’s research, from the ‘70s onwards, has helped develop a new awareness of the role of the photographer, as well as that of photography as a language, in Italy. The link, which at first appears purely psychological, that the photographer has made between the tradition and American photographs of Walker Evans, produced truly innovative and important results, both in terms of his research and for his photographer contemporaries. Luigi Ghirri, in sustaining that photography is a language whose sense lies in expression, sees in the photographer a main role as author, one who is no longer alone and the absolute sole witness faced with the rest of the world. The photographer expresses his own vision autonomously, free from consolidated models of the history of photography and art, opening a completely unexplored gateway to reality. The themes dealt with are those of the landscape, especially that of Italy, in all its forms, going beyond the genres that have characterised the figurative arts and photography. We are therefore dealing with photography that works through intuition and synthesis, within the narration and description created by the author’s personal vision. In presenting a landscape according to this philosophy - for example, a view, an industrial area, the suburbs, the urbanisation of agricultural areas, building sites that radically change the nature of a place – there is no sensation of social protest, but of a careful search for a personal identity in relation to a place. The photographer constantly tests himself through photography with a frame that can exclude parts of reality, or by focussing on what is out of focus, to avoid a clear and precise vision of the subject. He can use under-exposure or over-exposure to render colours unreal or create a strong interpretation that is far-removed from common perception. The interpretation of reality, in this case the landscape, transfers attention to other important contemporary themes, such as the environment, geographical identity and nature and therefore the photographer’s gaze measures and presents the space that surrounds him and the themes in which he is involved.