"How No Man Will Ever Know", New Exhibition at Lab27
Lab27 and its art director Steve Bisson, PCA Chair of Photography, inaugurate the new 2024 programming with the exhibition “How No Man Will Ever Know”, which displays the works of photographers Anne Immelé, Marisol Mendez, and Nausicaa Giulia Bianchi. Three projects give voice to as many stories that question the gaze, reproduce sometimes invisible portions of the world, and together interpret it with militancy and courage. Like Virginia Woolf’s waves, through as many interior monologues that filter experiences, the flow of images and choices manifest the possible. Photographs are sometimes like tears, drops born in the darkness of conscience, almost out of necessity, in response to the inconsistencies of society.
The documentary “Melita, מלט†−mlṭ, refuge” by Anne Immelé considers the fate of the Mediterranean by crossing the routes of commercial conquest of the Phoenicians with those of today’s migrants. An exploration that intersects and alternates traces of the past and vicissitudes of the present, opening spaces for reflection on the notions of refuge and hospitality. Caves and remains of Phoenician shelters in Malta, the Favignana quarry, and the beaches of Tunisia, where the dreams of refugees sometimes get buried. These photographs, rooted in the geopolitical complexity of the contemporary migratory condition, deviate from reportage to propose a poetic trajectory.
“MADRE” by Marisol Mendez stems from the desire to celebrate the diversity and complexity of Bolivian culture through a different representation of femininity. The project became a cathartic experience to re-imagine the history of Bolivia through women. Each portrait evokes mixtures of references delving into magical realism or Andean baroque. A wide range of visual stimuli intertwines myth and reality, truth and fiction, freeing iconographic spaces that thrive in diversity and that redeem a future starting from the eluded past. (Listen to the recent podcast with Marisol Mendez)
The ongoing photographic research “Death is a photograph” by Nausicaa Giulia Bianchi arises from a reflection on mourning and extends to contribute to the field of death studies, offering a visual and artistic approach to a topic often overlooked or taboo in culture. The project deals with all types of experiences that intertwine life and death: from fatal accidents to transplants, near-death experiences, taxidermy, mediums, murderers, gravediggers, ghost hunters… The author challenges stereotypes and prejudices surrounding death to foster a deeper individual understanding of our existence.
Lab27 | Strada Scudetto 27, 31100 Treviso | Italy
Opening on February 9th at 21:00 | Open through March 29, 2024
Find the article on Urbanautica, Journal of Visual Anthropology and Cultural Landscapes