THE FASTING WOMEN - AGAINST MAFIA
In the summer of 1992, following the carnage at Capaci that slew
judge Giovanni Falcone, his wife Francesca Morvillo and his police
officers, and the blast in Via D'Amelio in which judge Paolo Borsellino
and his five bodyguards lost their lives, a group of women in Palermo
(Sicily) felt the need to do something, to react in some way. Their
highly symbolic action took the shape of a hunger strike in the main
square of the city, an act which still comes across as courageous even
today. Twenty-two years on, those women, some of whom were no
more than girls at the time, have come together again in the work of
Francesco Francaviglia. The work “The Fasting Women - against
mafia" is the first photography solo exhibition hosted by the Uffizi
Gallery in Florence and the winner of the Portfolio Italia Prize set up by
FIAF as the best photographic work of 2014.
The book, published in 2014 by Postcart, contains 112 pages with 31
portraits and includes essays and contributions (in Italian and English)
from Pietro Grasso, Speaker of the Italian Senate; Leoluca Orlando,
Mayor of Palermo; Franca Imbergamo, a magistrate with the National
Anti-Mafia Prosecutor's Office; Antonio Natali, Director of the Uffizi
Gallery; Letizia Battaglia, a photographer; Salvo Palazzolo, a journalist
with La Repubblica; along with a number of testimonials from the
women portrayed in the photographs and newspaper articles dated
1992.
The format is 250x200 mm and on the hardcover, over the woman's
face, are printed the names of all the mafia victims.
Francesco Francaviglia is a Sicilian photographer, who among others has worked with Marina Abramovic, Patti Smith, Edouard Louis and repeatedly had the honor of photographing the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella. As a cellist and photographer he explores basic human emotions and fundamental traits of the human experience. His work was presented, as solo exhibition, in several public museums such as the Riso Sicilian Museum of Contemporary Art, the Macro Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome. In 2014 he became the first living author hosted by the Uffizi Gallery.
Awards Francesco Francaviglia has received the mention as the best photographic project on Sicily from Ragusa Photo Festival and FIAF first prize Portfolio Italia as best photographic work of 2014.
