The beauty of the south in the photographs of Emiliano Mancuso: the exhibition in Genoa

Una diversa bellezza, the exhibition showcasing the works of photographer and filmmaker Emiliano Mancuso a year after his untimely death, is on display at Palazzo Ducale in Genoa until Nov. 29. The title, borrowed from Domenico Starnone’s text, introduces the first part of the volume, Terre di Sud, the subject of this exhibition and his first photographic experience.

The exhibition in Sala Liguria presents about 70 photographs, taken from 2000 onward, with a spontaneous approach contaminated by street photography. These images show the protagonists of chance encounters, faces and expressions that accompany us in a sore country, without illusions, in a perpetual oscillation between the confirmation of the stereotype and the melancholic postcard.

At first, during his first short trips, the author takes simple snapshots. There is no awareness yet in his gaze, but already we catch that extraordinary ability of his to relate to the other, whoever they may be, often part of an occasional, sometimes outcast humanity. Mancuso approaches, inhabits places, participates and becomes an accomplice. A natural empathy marks his vision and softens it: always forgiving, never judgmental, strong with a sensitivity and affective energy that allows him to welcome and be welcomed.

Terre di Sud is a long project, lasting a good eight years, during which photography becomes a means of observing the reality that interests him, that of people living on the margins of society or in difficulty to whom the author gives voice through images. Aware of the imprecise form of his work, with great humility he performs the most important task for him: to be in relationship. He does not focus on the aesthetic form of visual language. Entering into the lives of others is already an achievement for him.

In this exhibition, entitled Una diversa bellezza (A different beauty), the project Terre di Sud (Lands of the South ) is presented again completely revisited: an anthropological fresco, bright and joyful, in which the characters of our country coexist, which, through Mancuso’s photography, are enriched with many nuances.

There is a kind of disarming naiveté and, at the same time, a solid conviction in his work. There is his sensitivity as he draws the protagonists he chooses to narrate the country. Politics, economics, macro-history are always filtered through the micro-history of individuals. Lives lived and witnessed in the first person. And with candor, with intrepid boldness, we witness the passage of time narrated with rare compassion.

The exhibition is curated by Renata Ferri.

For all information you can visit the official website of the Ducal Palace.

The beauty of the south in the photographs of Emiliano Mancuso: the exhibition in Genoa

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