(Adnkronos) – An exhibition of the work of trailblazing lenswoman Letizia Battaglia, who chronicled everyday life in Sicily over 50 years, including many mafia killings and the arrests of mafia bosses, is on at the Photographers’ Gallery in London until 23 February.
‘Letizia Battaglia: Life, Love and Death in Sicily’ is the first exhibition entirely dedicated to the Palermo native, who died in 2022 aged 87 and began her photographic career in the 1970s for the daily newspaper L’Ora.
From the early 1970s, Battaglia’s shots documented everyday life in Sicily along with the horrors of mafia wars until the 1990s. Battaglia’s photos have gained international recognition for their unflinching documentation of the mafia in Sicily.
“It is extraordinary to see Letizia Battaglia’s photographs on display in the gallery, which is a stone’s throw from Oxford Street, considered to be the ‘Mecca’ of the world photographic scene”, said Italian Cultural Institute director Francesco Bongarra, also a native of Palermo, who personally met the photographer.
“Her lens told the story of a land plagued and offended by the mafia that found the strength to rebel against the violence and oppression of ‘Cosa Nostra’. It is a testimony of history and civilisation that the Italian Cultural Institute in London is glad to support in the British capital.”
Battaglia mainly photographed in black and white. Her pictures captured women and children in their neighbourhoods and streets, showing the poverty and misery on Sicily’s streets as well as the life of the wealthy upper classes, religious processions, festivals and funerals.
Curated by Paolo Falcone, in collaboration with the Letizia Battaglia Archive and the Falcone Foundation for the Arts, the exhibition is supported by the Italian Cultural Institute in London.
Bongarra, the director of the Photographers’ Gallery, Shoair Mavlian, and curator Paolo Falcone attended the exhibition’s opening ceremony.
