The contemplating ideas Adorno wrote about the holocaust
become current and highly relevant once again: “Auschwitz
indisputably underlined how culture failed. The fact that it was
allowed to happen in the midst of all the Enlightened philosophy,
art and science, says a lot about how the spirit wasn’t able to
reach and change man… All the culture that came after Auschwitz,
including the desperate criticism about it, is garbage.” Today, even
though Lampedusa is not Auschwitz, a forgotten concentration
camp in a polish province, but a southern border of the European
continent, the horror and the cultural responsibilities are even
greater: to be silent means being an accomplice in infamy first,
and then in crime. Seventy years ago Satre considered writing to
be useless unless it had a nearly revolutionary, political and civil
objective. I believe this is the meaning and the purpose behind my
work.
Over the past decade, musician, photographer, and lecturer Francesco Francaviglia, has developed a significant body of work centered on Mafia-related themes. His archive, recently acquired by the Italian Ministry of Culture, includes key pieces of Italian history, such as records of major Mafia trials and portraits of politicians, activists, victims, journalists, and magistrates. Additionally, Francaviglia has documented social and human rights issues, focusing on refugees, LGBTQIA+, and the plight of women migrating from North Africa, the Balkans, Kosovo, Albania,Iraq, Iran, and Ukraine.
Awards Among other personalities of public life he has worked with the Serbian performance artist Marina Abramovic, the Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, the American singer Patti Smith, the French bestseller author Edouard Louis and repeatedly had the honor of photographing the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
Francesco Francaviglia is the first living photographer whose work has been exhibited at the prestigious Uffizi Gallery in Florence. He has received awards and recognition from numerous international festivals and institutions.
