Prisoners' exercise of faith in prison: at the Diocesan Museum in Milan, Margherita Lazzati's photographs

An exhibition to document the free exercise of faith by inmates at Milan’s Opera prison: titled Photographs in Prison. Manifestation of Religious Freedom, is a photographic project by Margherita Lazzati (Milan, 1953) and is hosted by the Diocesan Museum of Milan from November 15, 2019 to January 26, 2020. The exhibition presents fifty black-and-white images that trace the years in which Lazzati attended the Opera prison house as a photographer as part of reading and creative writing workshop projects.

The idea of documenting the daily life of the inmates, and in particular their manifestations of faith, arose in 2017 from a dialogue with the prison’s then-director Giacinto Siciliano, later continued by his successor Silvio Di Gregorio, and provveditore Luigi Pagano. The Milanese artist’s images portray people in contact with their faith and beliefs: not only inmates, but also volunteers, ministers of worship, agents, and members of communities of different religious denominations, from Catholics to Jews, from Evangelicals to Copts, from Buddhists to Muslims, caught in various moments of prayer and sharing.

“I chose to portray not only the places of prayer and sharing,” explains Margherita Lazzati, “but also the dialogues, the looks, the ritual gestures, the moments of coexistence between people, which are then the ones that most struck me. This is a theme that is very dear to me. I try to stay away from any rhetoric and turn my investigation solely to the ”person.“ In this case I focused on the experience that people live and share: an experience of reflection, prayer, hope, despair.”

Margherita Lazzati wants to invite us to go beyond the walls and get closer than a reality that is an integral part of society. The images, however, are not meant to be just a narrative or just to explain what happens in prison, but also aim to prompt deep questions, and it is for this reason that the exhibition is totally in tune with the identity of the museum itself, which, through art, intends to provoke questions of meaning and desire for Beauty.

The exhibition can be visited during the opening hours of the Diocesan Museum of Milan (every day except Mondays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.). Ticket exhibition + Diocesan Museum: full price 8 euros, concessions and groups 6 euros, schools and oratories 4 euros. Accompanying the exhibition is a catalog Edizioni La Vita Felice (16 euros). For more information visit the website of the Diocesan Museum of Milan.

Image: Margherita Lazzati, Photographs in Prison. Manifestations of Religious Freedom (2017/2019; Fine Art inkjet print on Innova Photo Cotton Rag 100% cotton 315g paper).

Prisoners' exercise of faith in prison: at the Diocesan Museum in Milan, Margherita Lazzati's photographs

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