Modena, portraits of refugees and volunteers on display in Francesco Radino's polyptych

As part of its Featured Works project, the Modena Visual Arts Foundation is exhibiting, through April 3, Francesco Radino ’s (Bagno a Ripoli, Florence, 1947) Una faccia una razza (A face a race) polyptych, commissioned in 2016 by the foundation itself (which at the time was called Fondazione Fotografia).

The work places, side by side, portraits of refugees and volunteers from different nations and residents of the island of Lesvos, where they are simultaneously cohabiting, as well as icons of the Orthodox tradition and mosaics that hark back to common historical roots dating back to antiquity. The motto “one face, one race,” which Greeks frequently use when welcoming Italian tourists, is expanded to include all the icons of this exodus that is a contemporary emergency, but which has actually always been the basis of the Mediterranean civilization founded on the exchange of people, cultures and goods. At a time in history when borders are open for goods but closed for people, Radino’s work invites us to reflect on the origin of these cultural and political barriers.

Born into a family of painters, Radino, in 1970, after studying sociology, became a professional photographer and chose to work in various fields, from industrial photography to design, from architecture to landscape. Since the 1980s he has participated in numerous public research projects on the territory, including the Archivio dello spazio photographic campaigns within the Architectural and Environmental Heritage Project of the Province of Milan, the Osserva.Te.R promoted by the Region of Lombardy, the European Eyes on Japan project organized by Eu Jap Fest, Italian Atlas 2003 for the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, Tramsformazione for the Villa Ghirlanda Museum of Contemporary Photography, The Water Civilization in Lombardy for Urbim and the Region of Lombardy, and The Cathedrals of Energy for Fondazione AEM. He has always intertwined professional work and artistic research and is now considered one of the most influential authors in the panorama of contemporary photography in Italy. Involved in the developments of contemporary landscape research photography, over the years he has elaborated a free way of exploring reality that today goes beyond the genre of landscape by opening up to every aspect of it: from nature to urbanized territories, from the human figure to objects, from animals to the artifacts of human history. He has exhibited his work in Italian, European, Japanese and U.S. galleries and museums, and his works are part of international public and private collections.

For all information you can visit the official website of the Modena Visual Arts Foundation or the official website of the City of Modena.

Modena, portraits of refugees and volunteers on display in Francesco Radino's polyptych

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