OLTRE LE MURA

curated by Emanuele Camerini
in cooperation with Archivio Fotografico Lucchese

“At times all I need is a brief glimpse, an opening in the midst of an incongruous landscape, a glint of lights in the fog, the dialogue of two passersby meeting in the crowd, and I think that, setting out from there, I will put together, piece by piece, the perfect city, made of fragments mixed with the rest, of instants separated by intervals, of signals one sends out, not knowing who receives them […] Perhaps while we speak, it is rising, scattered, within the confines of your empire; you can hunt for it, but only in the way I have said.” (Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities, 1972)

Lying in the sun by a beach, posing in front of a monument somewhere around the world or simply caught during a relaxing moment while playing some outdoor sport, Oltre le mura tells us about fragments of holidays made by people from Lucca. All the exhibited photographs are part of the city’s photographic archive (Archivio Fotografico Lucchese): here we find a wide range of materials and supports, from 35mm rolls and slides to medium and large format plates.

Photographers’ lens catches unpretentious moments made out of joy and discovery, bringing us back to the time when travel photography was way less direct and immediate than nowadays. Holiday pictures’ projection was a chance for a warm and genuine sharing. Throughout a collective narration, the exhibition want to rediscover this atmosphere and this attitude towards photography, pushing our sights beyond the walls.

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