After travelling the world,
Giovane Fotografia Italiana finally lands in Malta
Eyes on Tomorrow. Giovane Fotografia Italiana nel Mondo is an original project of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia. This widespread exhibition, curated by Ilaria Campioli e Daniele De Luigi, is meant to discover and support some of the most promising young talents of Italian photography.
The first stages were inaugurated on the occasion of the 2021 Contemporary Art Day, the event promoted by AMACI (Association of Italian Contemporary Art Museums), and thanks to the contribution and support of the Italian Cultural Institutes the exhibitions are on display in eleven different cities: Addis Ababa, Algiers, Barcelona, Mexico City, Dublin, Valletta, Melbourne, Munich, Montevideo, Moscow and New Delhi.
Through an innovative exhibition display, based on the use of modular wooden structures personally interpreted by each artist, Giovane Fotografia Italiana proposes a format for a series of photographic installations, each revolving around a main theme addressed by three artists (Heritage, Identity, Power, Roots, Stories, Nomadic Life, Secrets, Youth, Dreams, Enlightenment, Horizons, Daily Life, Correspondences, Perspectives).
THE EXHIBITION
from March 29 to April 30, 2022
at the Institute
Horizons is the theme presented in Valletta:
Looking far away, at the limits of what is visible, is a spontaneous act, and yet we often have a hard time leaving our comfort zone in order to decode the reality that surrounds us. Giulia Agostini, Lorenza Demata and Francesca Pili invite us to discover new horizons in daily life by reinterpreting urban, natural and human landscapes through alienating alterations, dreamlike contrasts and poetic combinations.
Let’s find out more about the artists:
– Giulia Agostini (Padua, 1983) with Untitled
Giulia Agostini’s first exhibition was in New York in 2011 (The Young and Recluse and Underline Gallery) and her work focuses on the woman’s body and its ability to express freedom, far removed from social boundaries. This quest is pursued, through her work, by exploring the many ways in which human existence inhabits spaces: spontaneously, romantically, as the ever-present link between the dream and the waking world.
“With uninhibited creativity, Agostini produces compelling scenes of remarkable simplicity. Her world is charged with suggestive intimate scenes of friends and telling arrangements of the paranormal. Agostini’s style runs the gamut: from soft-focus dreamy look to hard edge landscape and architecture, from miniature to monumental, from posed to the candor of street photography, to a reflection on the social constructs of relationships. It makes you thirsty for more” (Bruce Checefsky).
– Lorenza Demata (Naples, 1988) with How did we end up here?
Photographer and visual artist, her practice is mainly constituted by documentary, scenic and conceptual photography. Her works are declined on the analysis of relevant social themes, often connected to identity issues, such as transnationalism, decolonization, globalization and collective memory. One of the main concerns of her work is the mutual influence between social relations and photographic or non-photographic images.
This series aims to investigate imagination as a process that takes place from the contemplation of essential natural elements. By creating dreamscapes, the images want us to reflect on the importance of the imaginative processes that often end up in meditative mind spaces: while navigating through thoughts and imaginary spaces, we could find ourselves into unexpected surreal places.
– Francesca Pili (Benevento, 1986) with #Abruxaus
Francesca Pili studied Painting at the Academy of Fine Art in Bologna and she earned a master’s degree in photojournalism in Naples. Her works focuses on social and environmental issues and she has participated in various group exhibitions and in 2019 #Abruxaus was published by the French newspaper Libération.
#Abruxaus, referencing the annual report on the summer fires in Sardinia, it’s an ironic denunciation on Instagram. The title, a curse in Sardinian language, means: “You can burn alive”, and is directed towards arsonists. Commonly, Sardinia is only considered for its beautiful beaches, only deemed as the destination to spend the best holidays in. However, the burned vegetation, although less appealing to tourists, is part of the typical Sardinian summer landscape. This project questions the resulting effects of a policy indifferent to the environment, both socio-economic and ecological ones.
Opening hours:
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday: 10:30-13:00 / 15:00-16:30
Thursday: 10:30-13:00 / 15:30-18:30
Friday: 10:30-13:30
THE OPENING
March 28, 2022 at 17:30
Friggieri Hall at the Valletta Design Cluster
The opening will be held at the Valletta Design Cluster in collaboration with Malta Photographic Society. Come join us for a cultural exchange and an analysis of photography and art!
Booking is required due to limited availability: BOOK HERE.
The event, to be held in English, will see the participation of:
- Serena Alessi, director of the Italian Cultural Institute of Valletta
- Daniele De Luigi, curator of Giovane Fotografia Italiana- Luigi Ghirri Award
- Lorenza Demata, photographer
- Joseph P. Smith, photographer and artist
We will then move to the Institute (a five-minute walk) to finally visit the exhibition and continue our discussion.
* * FOR MEMBERS ONLY * *
Only the members of the Institute will have the chance to have a preview of the exhibition on March 24 and 25 before the official opening! For info and appointments, please send an ✉️ email to segreteria.iiclavalletta@esteri.it.