Ferdinando Scianna. Ti ricordo, Sicilia

Ferdinando Scianna. Ti ricordo, Sicilia

Museo Civico Castello Ursino, in cooperation with Assessorato alla Cultura del Comune di Catania and Civita Sicilia, is pround to present the exhibition: "Ferdinando Scianna. Ti ricordo, Sicilia", curated by Paola Bergna and Alberto Bianda (Art Director).

From the 23 of June to the 5 of November 2023, the Museum will host 80 printed photos in different sizes in the Hall Open Space, going through the whole carrier of the great sicilian photographer; the whole exhibition devolops like a narrative path, able to highlight the close connection between the artist and his homeland through the use of black and white.

“I think fotographing Sicily is almost a verbal redundacy. I started shooting pictures when I was seventeen and Sicily was there. I started photographing because Sicily was there. To understand it, and through the photos I fully understood the meaning of being Sicilian.” (F. Scianna)

Designed specifically for Castello Ursino and with the introduction of video and graphic media, the exhibition starts with a homage to his Bagheria, going through subjects, images, locations, rites, festivals and customs, symbols of the close bond between the great Sicilian photographer and his land. Then it proceedes with one of his most important works, with which he is enshrined in the Olympus of international fashion photography: the 80s Dolce&Gabbana's campaign, whose face was the gorgeous dutch model Marpessa Hennick. Becoming the muse of the artist, she gave the atmosphere a mysterious and sensual charm in a continuos balance between arcaism and modernity, reality and fection.

Among the personalities from world of art and culture, the most important is Leonardo Sciascia, to whom a chapter of the exhibition is dedicated. They have been friends for 25 years and according to Scianna he was like a father, a mentor and a teacher.

Scianna says: “As a photographer, I consider myselft a reporter. As a reporter, my foundamental reference is Henry Cartier-Bressor, according to whom the photographer must aspire to be an invisible witness, who never internes to change the world...”