The exhibition highlights the photographic research ability of the Sicilian artist and which takes its cue from news stories dating back to the more recent Italian past, placing family members and people close to the victims of tragic episodes at the center of the narrative, engaged in long battles in search of the truth.
"We know the news stories, we remember what the faces of the tragically deceased were like - he claims Albert Gandolfo -, but little or nothing we know of who remains, of those people who, in addition to experiencing great pain, due to the loss of a loved one, inherit battles carried out in search of truth and justice ".
Alberto Gandolfo has documented and explored 27 stories, from massacre in Piazza Fontana to the Englaro and Welby cases, from Peppino Impastato to Paolo Borsellino, up to the more recent events of the Viareggio massacre and the Cucchi case. These and other stories correspond to the portraits of the faces of the victims' families, until now almost unknown. And this is how photography becomes the means to keep attention high on the evolution of events.
"There are the lives of those who remain - declares Blessed Donatus exhibition curator -, the involuntary bequests reported in the testimonies collected by the author; those that go beyond the timeliness and proximity linked to the immediate narration of the manifestations of concomitant events, beyond the sudden reactions of pain that can arise from the loss of a loved one. Existences transformed and spent in search of a single truth which, just like photography, never completely coincides with reality".
"Finally – continues Benedetta Donato – we recognize in those faces the real existences of those who led ongoing battles and we take charge of stories and evolutions belonging to our contemporaneity which, thanks to the photographs of Alberto Gandolfo, do not risk falling into oblivion".
Albert Gandolfo
He was born in Palermo in 1983. Always passionate about photography, in 2010 he began a training course at a sector institute in his city.
He learns black and white printing techniques following a workshop with Antonio Manta, delves into different genres and approaches, in a specific path with authors such as Valerio Bispuri and Efrem Raimondi. Inspired by the latter and by the production of great masters, such as Richard Avedon and Paolo Roversi, he specializes in portraiture.
In recent years he has carried out numerous projects, portraying ordinary characters and exponents of national and international culture.
His works have been exhibited in various venues, including: the GAM - Gallery of Modern Art in Palermo, the Teatro Massimo Foundation in Palermo and on the occasion of the Voies Off, during the prestigious international festival Les Rencontres de La Photographie d'Arles.
In 2016 he founded Église, a reality born with the aim of promoting photography, through the articulation of continuous training and exhibition activities in the Palermo area.
Cover image: Alberto Gandolfo, Salvatore Borsellino, from "Quello che resta". © Albert Gandolfo
ALBERTO GANDOLFO. What remains
Milan, photographic workshops (via Friuli 60)
31 October – 24 November 2019. Free admission
