LIBIA E DINTORNI

Photo Exhibition by Alessandro Belgiojoso

S. Maria dello Spasimo, Palermo

July 22nd – 29th 2007

The exhibition presents two series of works, one which contemplates Libya, the southernmost border of the Mediterranean, a filter of migrations and exchange; the other, Paesaggi Mentali, represents the images collected by the artist around the world between 2003 and 2006. Libya has preserved traces of history which connect it to Italy. Its people, its social layering, and its age-old multi-ethnicity endow this country with a unique allure. In the faces and expressions of the Touareg, Alessandro Belgiojoso captures the poetry of the desert as told by the traveling forefathers of today’s concept of tourism. “The photographic image becomes the springboard for a narration that leads us into the realm of the psychological and the emotional, rich with unexpected apparitions, and oscillating between wholeness and detail, between a desire of intimacy and an objective view. Like fragments of a whole, figures, object, landscapes appear realistically, even in their spiritual significance; the eye, which can sometimes seem restless, is always searching for unusual angles and perspectives. Life and its pulsating motion, as seen from different planes of reality, become the primary narrative thread, alternated by moments of desolating solitude which almost underline the transitional nature of existence, which the artist renders with a strong sense of humanity. The thematic variety which emerges from the exhibition feels like the tracing of a continuing journey, where the images are like scattered writings in a notebook, like a promise to be kept.”

Cristina Romano, Paesaggi Mentali

ALESSANDRO BELGIOJOSO

Alessandro Belgiojoso, born in Milan in 1963, has lived and worked both in Italy and abroad. He has traveled in all 5 continents, focusing particularly on Mongolia, Siberia, Kamchatka, China, India, Japan, and North Korea. Since 2005 his work has been centered primarily on the concept of the ‘border’, intended both as the line of comparison and dialogue between differences, as well as the term representing an actual geopolitical boundary.He has exhibited his work in “Paesaggi Mentali”, an individual show at the Studio Visconti in Milan in 2005, curated by Denis Curti.He has been featured in numerous group shows in 2006, such as “Colleziona” at Forma Centro Internazionale di Fotografia in Milan; “Imaging Asia in Documents” at the Daegu Photo Biennale in South Korea; “Rozzano: Cittàmorfosi” in Cascina Grande, Rozzano, Milan.; “Foto & Photo” curated by Enrica Vigano, in Cesano Maderno, Milan; “Field of Vision” Gao Brothers, Beijing New Art Projects, in Beijing; “Descubrimientos” PhotoEaspaña 06, Mataderos, Madrid. He has also participated in the portfolio review of the Houston Fotofest, Photoespaña, and Rhubarb-Rhubarb, collaborating with the main museums and galleries in the US and around the world, and giving lectures at the Politecnico di Milano, Facoltà di Architettura indirizzo di Disegno Industriale, at the Domus Accademy and the Accademia di Brera.