Più di così non possiamo avvicinarci
curated by Ilaria Campioli
Since photography was first invented, it has always been closely associated with exploration and discovery. Developments in photography went hand-in-hand with the Victorians passion for classification, collection and knowledge, and since 1850 the camera has been a constant companion of explorers, archaeologists and travellers. It was an age of expansion and huge changes; the world was becoming more and more accessible as a result of major inventions like steam ships, the railway and the telegraph. Photography played a part in making it a more familiar world. It accompanied explorers, archaeologists and sea captains on their successful ventures, and the resulting photographs and books of photographs of the time help to create and strengthen how we imagine the geography of the places, shaping our perception of space and time.
The books of photographs on display use the same narrative and visual structure that was favoured by explorers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to reflect on the complex relationship between discovery, journey and conquest. Recalling the models favoured in the photography of that era, the books selected prompt us to question our relationship with the unknown, with travel, the exotic and with what is familiar to us, taking us on a journey through the places and the items they portray as well as within the medium itself.
