The photographs show, they do not prove. They are words of Ferdinando Scianna, undisputed master of shooting. It is called – paradoxically – Don’t call me master the new exhibition dedicated to the Sicilian photographer which is a journey through images in his extraordinary career.
How else to define if not a teacher who, born in Bagheria in 1943, is noted for his talent when he is just twenty years old by the writer Leonardo Sciascia and that from then on he will move, tirelessly, in half the world and then land in 1982 – first among the Italians – at the court of the great Magnum agency, introduced by none other than from Cartier Bresson?
An exhibition of images and words
From Wednesday to January 22nd the spaces of STILL Photography (in Milan, in via Zamenhof) host a path curated by Fabio Achilli and Denis Curti with 50 images that tell, through many of the most iconic photographs (from journeys in Spain, America Latina, New York, Paris, to the beloved Sicily) the peculiarity of Scianna.
Scianna is right to say that her photographs “show, do not prove”: through the lens, a thousand miles away from the idea of presenting a sweetened or selective version of reality, she aims atessential truth of the photographed subject, which can be a sunny Sicilian landscape like a bourgeois interior, a common road like a famous model such as Marpessa. To Ferdinando Scianna but the images are not enough: has always accompanied his shots to short, dry narratives, aphorisms.
Sicily, the place of the soul
After a career studded with international awards and accolades, about sixty volumes published, hundreds of reportages signed in the most disparate sectors, from the civil war in Lebanon to fashion and advertising, Scianna’s spirit remains deeply Sicilian.
«My images, and not only the Sicilian ones, are often very black. I see and compose starting from the shadow. The sun interests me because it gives shade. Dramatic images of a dramatic world, ”he says.
His art is imbued with shadows and light – and with dramas that Sicily has always known – as you can see in the gallery in black and white that we propose to you. I am some of the most beautiful shots of the exhibition.
At the Sicily, place of the soul, one of the most interesting sections is dedicated: Scianna explores all its spirituality in the processions of the villages, shows its natural strength in the landscapes and the theatrical beauty in the shots with the model Marpessa Hennink, protagonist of the Dolce and Gabbana catalog made on the island .
«My job is to take photographs and photographs cannot represent metaphors. The photographs show, they do not prove».
Scroll through the images below and judge for yourself if he is not right.
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