Italian Women Photographers 1965-2015

The exhibition, which is curated by Raffaella Perna, shows a selection of more than one hundred and fifty photographs and photo books from the Donata Pizzi Collection, which has been set up and created with the aim of promoting knowledge and appreciation of the most significant photographers in Italy from the mid-sixties to the present day. The collection – which is unparalleled in Italy – consists of works taken by about fifty women photographers from different generations. They range from the pioneering work of Paola Agosti, Letizia Battaglia, Lisetta Carmi, Carla Cerati, Paola Mattioli, and Marialba Russo, through to experimental works from the 1990s to 2015 by Marina Ballo Charmet, Silvia Camporesi, Monica Carocci, Gea Casolaro, Paola Di Bello, Luisa Lambri, Raffaella Mariniello, Marzia Migliora, Moira Ricci, Alessandra Spranzi and many others.

This is the first exhibition to emerge from the partnership between La Triennale di Milano and the Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea (MuFoCo) in Cinisello Balsamo. The joint venture will also lead to an exhibition devoted to Federico Patellani called “The War is Over: The Republic is Born. Milan 1945-1946“, curated by Kitti Bolognesi and Giovanna Calvenzi, from 17 September 2016 to 15 January 2017, at the Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea, where the entire photographic archive of the great photojournalist is kept.

The massive entry of women photographers, photojournalists and artists into the cultural circuit in Italy started in the sixties. Their entry into the world of art and photojournalism – which had long been the almost exclusive preserve of men – was favoured by rapid social changes as well as by the feminist movement. It is in part thanks to the achievements of that generation that women photographers and artists now occupy prominent positions on the cultural scene in Italy and around the world: and their works can be seen in museums, galleries, festivals, magazines and specialised publications, in Italy and abroad. Despite this watershed moment, the history and the work of many women photographers still remains to be discovered, promoted and appreciated. The works from the Donata Pizzi Collection illustrate some of the most significant moments in the history of Italian photography in the last fifty years, and in them we see the conceptual, aesthetic and technological transformations that have swept through photography in this country. The central nature of the body and its transformations, the need to give a voice to personal needs and to the family and everyday life, and the relationship between private and collective memory are the focal themes that emerge from the collection. It is these aspects that images from different decades and genres have in common, from reportage to the most experimental forms of photography.

The exhibition will also include “Parlando con voi“, an installation based on the book of the same name by Giovanna Chiti and Lucia Covi (Danilo Montanari Editore). Taking up an idea by Giovanni Gastel, it is produced by the Associazione Fotografi Professionisti (AFIP International) and Metamorphosi Editrice.

The multimedia installation consists of thirty screens, each of which shows an exclusive interview with a photographer and a sequence of her works and publications. It gives the visitor an insight into the lives of professional women and artists, and their experiences as creative, courageous people.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue in English and Italian (Silvana Editoriale), with essays by Federica Muzzarelli and Raffaella Perna, an interview with Donata Pizzi and biographies by Mariachiara Di Trapani.

The exhibition includes photographs by Paola Agosti, Martina Bacigalupo, Marina Ballo Charmet, Liliana Barchiesi, Letizia Battaglia, Tomaso Binga (Bianca Menna), Giovanna Borgese, Marcella Campagnano, Silvia Camporesi, Monica Carocci, Lisetta Carmi, Gea Casolaro, Elisabetta Catalano, Carla Cerati, Augusta Conchiglia, Paola De Pietri, Agnese De Donato, Paola Di Bello, Rä di Martino, Anna Di Prospero, Bruna Esposito, Eva Frapiccini, Simona Ghizzoni, Bruna Ginammi, Elena Givone, Nicole Gravier, the Gruppo del Mercoledì (Bundi Alberti, Diane Bond, Mercedes Cuman, Adriana Monti, Paola Mattioli, Silvia Truppi), Adelita Husni-Bey, Luisa Lambri, Lisa Magri, Lucia Marcucci, Raffaela Mariniello, Allegra Martin, Paola Mattioli, Malena Mazza, Libera Mazzoleni, Gabriella Mercadini, Marzia Migliora, Verita Monselles, Maria Mulas, Brigitte Niedermair, Cristina Omenetto, Michela Palermo, Lina Pallotta, Beatrice Pedicone, Agnese Purgatorio, Luisa Rabbia, Moira Ricci, Sara Rossi, Marialba Russo, Chiara Samugheo, Shobha, Alessandra Spranzi, and Francesca Volpi.