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An island per se is always loaded with symbolic values: it forms a dimension that is closed and at the same time open, introverted and yet extroverted; it represents a rock for castaways and a life-saving mirage. Not even Lampedusa evades this imagery. On the contrary, it amplifies it, giving it new meanings, forming indeed the gateway to Europe, to a new world for new people. Shouldering so many expectations and fears, often instrumentally emphasised, is an onerous yet at the same time morally noble task for a small island.
Mara Fella arrived on that piece of land surrounded by deep seas and brought back a diary of anti-rhetorical photographic images, a diary of island humaneness and an indirect testimony of thousands and thousands of desperate landings filled with hope.

The exhibition catalogue, published by Thesis and edited by Angelo Bertani and Claudio Cattaruzza, is available during the event or on this website shop.

The exhibition will be open until 16 April at the following times:
– Tuesday to Saturday: 9.30 am-1.00 pm and 2.30 pm-6.30 pm
– Sunday: 10.30 am-12.30 am and 4.00 pm-6.30 pm
closed Saturday 8 (afternoon), Sunday 9 and Monday 10 April.

Mara Fella
Mara Fella is an independent photographer. Her black and white works focus primarily on the relationship between man and his surroundings. Colour forms an essential visual feature in some of her projects, naturally focussed on a muted colour palette. She alternates between chemical and digital photography, addressing social issues such as migration, women’s identities and intergenerational relationships.
Her most significant projects include the reports Game_and again, Cosa sai che non so?, Kisumondogo, Periferie and Promise. In 2020 she received a major appreciation certificate from MoMA (Museum of Modern Art, New York) after successfully attending the course “Seeing Through Photographs”, and again in 2020 she was included by the Centre for Photography Research and Archiving in their list of best photographers in Friuli Venezia Giulia. She has held a number of solo and group exhibitions and regularly holds lectures and photography workshops for children and adults.

Angelo Bertani
Angelo Bertani, art critic and historian, was art director of the annual Hic et Nunc contemporary art exhibition from 1992 to 2005. Between 2008 and 2015 he curated a number of exhibition projects on sculptor and designer Harry Bertoia and in 2016 the exhibition Elettrodomesticità. Design e Innovazione nel Nord-Est da Zanussi a Electrolux. He has worked with the Centro Iniziative Culturali Pordenone (Pordenone Cultural Initiatives Centre) for many years and since 2006 has headed the visual arts initiatives organised by the Colonos Cultural Association. For Dedica Festival he was co-curator of some photography exhibitions: Akintunde Akinleye. Wole Soyinka and the rest of us (2012); Atiq Rahimi. L’immagine del ritorno (2018); Inti Ocon. ¡Yo estoy con vos, mi Nicaragua! (2019); Elio Ciol. Libya Infelix. Antiche rovine su cui costruire una nuova storia (2020); Ulderica Da Pozzo. Luci a Nordest; Paolo Rumiz. Gerundio inverso (2021); Mathias Énard and Pierre Marquès. Tutto sarà dimenticato (2022). He is a member of the Accademia San Marco, Pordenone.