La Fotografia Terra-Terra / Down to Earth Photography: A window into contemporary Italian photography from the Romagna region

The La fotografia terra-terra symposium will investigate the unique cultural and artistic phenomena of photography in the Romagna region in Italy.

The symposium coincides with the Otto volte due exhibition at Large Glass that presents a selection of new and recent analogue photography by eight contemporary Romagna photographers. The symposium will deepen understanding of the cultural context and artistic practice of this vibrant community of photographers working across a network of small towns in the eastern part of the Romagna region.

The first part of the symposium presents the rich cultural photographic context of the region since the 1980s, whose focus has been the exploration of ordinary and overlooked places in the provinces and countryside, taking a phenomenological approach to the act of seeing. The role of photographer Guido Guidi, as photographer, mentor and teacher, will then be explored and expanded upon.

In the second part, a conversation between the photographers exhibiting in Otto volte due, moderator Louis Rogers (Writer and Editor), and curator Charlotte Schepke will explore areas of commonality and difference within each artist’s work. Each photographer studied under Guido Guidi at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ravenna in a fertile climate of mutual exchange. Like Guidi, these artists work intuitively, in medium and large format analogue photography, and they share a vision of looking more closely and with care, at the landscape and people that they know deeply. Moreover, they retain a strong attention towards the materiality of photography.

Speakers:

Sue Barr is Head of Photography at the Architectural Association and holds a PhD from the Royal College of Art. She works and exhibits internationally and is represented by Hartmann Projects (Stuttgart).

Alessandra Dragoni worked for Magnum Photos, Paris, ABC Press photo, Amsterdam and Mondadori, Milan. Dragoni’s recent photobook, All the Flowers That you Plant, was published by Skinnerboox in 2021. Her work has been exhibited at Les Rencontres d’ Arles and Paris Photo, the Italian Institute of Culture in New York and Fotografia - Rome Photography Festival.

Marcello Galvani studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ravenna under Guido Guidi. In 2017 he exhibited at Photo London with Large Glass. Galvani has published books including Eggs and Asparagus (Skinnerboox, 2017) and Meteo (Sete Edizioni, 2010). His photographs are part of MAXXI in Rome, the Fotomuseum in Winterthur and the Fondation A Stichting in Brussels.

Veronica Lanconelli is a writer, teacher and curator. She graduated Modern Literature and Philosophy at the University of Bologna. Nicola Baldazzi is a photographer. He attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Ravenna. Veronica and Nicola both studied photography with Guido Guidi; they have been collaborating for years on image-text projects. Recent projects: Illuminazioni (2021), Sulla strada, nella pineta (2019). Together they published He didn't believe me (2018) and Piccolo prontuario di fotografia segnaletica (2013), both edited by Osservatorio fotografico, independent publishing house and cultural association founded by Cesare Fabbri and Silvia Loddo which they are part of.

Francesco Neri became a tutor at the AA School of Architecture in London in 2014 and he is Photography Professor at the Institute of Graphic Design in Faenza. In 2018 Neri won the first August Sander Prize for Portrait Photography of the Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne for his portrait study of farmers in his northern Italian homeland. His photographs are part of the permanent collections of the Sk Stiftung Kultur, in Cologne, Fondation A in Brussels, MAXXI Museum in Rome and the Museum Reina Sofia in Madrid.

Luca Nostri received a PhD in Photography titled Place and Identity in Italian Photography through a study of the town of Lugo. In 2005 he established Lugo Land – an independent art-photography cultural centre and publishing house that uses photography to research the concept of territory. Nostri’s photographs have been exhibited at Rencontres d’Arles in 2008, at Studio Museum, Harlem in New York in 2014, and Maxxi Museum in Rome in 2019. His book, Anselmo, was published by Linea di Confine in 2020. His photographs are part of the permanent collections of Macro Museum and MAXXI Museum in Rome.

Louis Rogers is a writer and editor based in London. His writing has been published in Granta, New Left Review, TANK Magazine, and Architectural Review, among others. He commissions and edits books at MACK.

Charlotte Schepke is Founder and Director of Large Glass, an independent commercial gallery in North London. She studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths’ College. She co-founded The Agency Contemporary Art (1996-2001), before joining Frith Street gallery as Director (2004-11).

Image: ‘Piazza Baracca, Lugo, 2020’, Luca Nostri, 2020, C-type print