“LETIZIA BATTAGLIA. IT’S ME” ON SHOW IN GENOA

29 Apr – 12 Nov 2023

From 29 April to 12 November 2023, the much-awaited retrospective exhibition Letizia Battaglia. It’s Me will be on view in the Sottoporticato of Palazzo Ducale in Genoa. The exhibition is dedicated to this Sicilian artist, who was a poetic and political photographer, a non-conformist intellectual, and a woman interested in what was around her, and intrigued by what was far from her. The exhibition is curated by Paolo Falcone, promoted by Palazzo Ducale Fondazione per la Cultura Genova and Civita Mostre e Musei, in collaboration with Archivio Letizia Battaglia and Fondazione Falcone per le Arti.

LETIZIA BATTAGLIA. IT’S ME” ON SHOW AT PALAZZO DUCALE

With over 100 large-sized photographs on display in the rooms of the Sottoporticato of Palazzo Ducale, the exhibition spans the entire professional life of this Sicilian photographer. Its articulated narrative path is divided into 4 sections, with black and white images, and a series of large-sized colour photos of her latest work, video documents, publications, as well as some until now unpublished materials.

The exhibition focuses on the topics mainly covered by Letizia with her unique expressive style. With her profound and continuous social critique, she would avoid clichés and challenge the visual assumptions of contemporary culture.

Letizia Battaglia is famous for her photographs of the Mafia, where policemen, magistrates and representatives of the institutions came to symbolize the civil struggle against Cosa Nostra, corruption, violence, and organized crime.

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Throughout her life, she has also described the various contradictions of Palermo, the faces of poverty and wealth, the demonstrations and riots on the streets, religious and pagan festivals. The city for her was a privileged space not only to observe real life, but also its urban landscape.

Civil rights are basically the rights of others – wrote Pier Paolo Pasolini –, and Letizia Battaglia has unveiled an unpleasant reality with careful, alert, and merciless eyes.

The result is a genuine, all-round portrait of Letizia Battaglia, who has been recognized as one of the most important contemporary photographers, not only for her images still residing in our collective memory, but also for the civil and ethical value she attributed to photography. The exhibition is supplemented by a prestigious catalogue edited by Paolo Falcone with texts by Roberto Andò and Giosuè Calaciura. It is published by Contrasto Editore.

Letizia Battaglia’s Biography

Letizia Battaglia, born in Palermo in 1935, is among the first Italian women photojournalists.

From 1974 to 1991, she directed the photo team at L’Ora, Palermo’s afternoon newspaper,and founded the Agenzia d’Informazione Fotografica with Franco Zecchin.

She was an activist, photographer, publisher, filmmaker, environmentalist, Councilor for Liveability in Palermo’s City Council led by Leoluca Orlando in the years of the ‘Primavera’; member of the Sicilian Regional Parliament and much more. She co-founded the Centro Siciliano di Documentazione ‘Giuseppe Impastato’.

Letizia was the first European woman to be awarded the W. Eugene Smith Grant for social photography (with Donna Ferrato). In San Francisco in 1999, she was awarded the Mother Jones Photography Lifetime Achievement Award for documentary photography.

In 2007, she received the Dr. Erich Salomon Award from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie in Cologne. In May 2009, she was presented with the Cornell Capa Infinity Award in New York.

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In 1986, she founded the magazine Grandevù – Grandezze e bassezze della città di Palermo; in 1991 the magazine Mezzocielo, a bimonthly magazine designed and produced only by women, and in 1992 Edizioni della battaglia.

In 2017, she was listed by the New York Times as one of the eleven most representative women of the year. She is among a thousand women nominated by Peace Women Across the Globe for the Noble Prize for Peace.

She held solo and group exhibitions in leading museums and institutions in Italy and abroad, including Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, Tate Modern in London, Palais de Tokio in Paris, Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Biennale of Istanbul, Palazzo Grassi, Fondation Pinault in Venice, Montreal’s Le Mois de la Photo, Perpignan’s Festival International du Photojournalisme, Palermo’s Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa, Rome’s MAXXI National Museum of the Arts, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo’s Moreira Salles Institute, Venice’s Casa dei Tre Oci, Milan’s Palazzo Reale.

In 2017, she opened the International Centre of Photography of the City of Palermo at the Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa.

In 2021, she founded the ‘Archivio Letizia Battaglia’ Association with her grandchildren Matteo and Marta Sollima.

She died in Palermo on 13 April 2022 at the age of 87.

Publications and Letizia Battaglia’s Archives

Her main publications include: Chroniques sicilienne (Actes Sud, 1999), Letizia Battaglia: Passion, Justice, Freedom, by Melissa Harris (Aperture 1999), Dovere di Cronaca (Peliti Associati, 2006), Sulle ferite dei suoi sogni, by Giovanna Calvenzi (Bruno Mondadori, 2010), Diario (Castelvecchi, 2014), Letizia Battaglia. Antohologia by Paolo Falcone (Drago, 2016), Letizia Battaglia. Per pura passione by Paolo Falcone, Margherita Guccione and Bartolomeo Pietromarchi (Drago 2016), Letizia Battaglia. Palermo by Paolo Falcone (IMS, 2018). Letizia Battaglia. Fotografia come scelta di vita by Francesca Alfano Miglietti (Marsilio, 2019). Mi prendo il mondo ovunque sia, with Sabrina Pisu (Einaudi, 2020), and Volare alto volare basso with Goffredo Fofi (Contrasto, 2021).

Since 2022, her photographic archive has been entrusted to the Associazione ‘Archivio Letizia Battaglia’.

Info about “Letizia Battaglia. It’s Me” Exhibition

29 Apr – 12 Nov 2023 Palazzo Ducale, Genova

Opening Hours

Tuesday to Sunday 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Closed on Mondays
Ticket office closes one hour before closing time.

Tickets for “Letizia Battaglia. It’s Me”

€ 14.00 Standard Open ticket

€ 12.00 Discounted Open ticket

€ 12.00 Standard Ticket

€ 10.00 Discounted Ticket for groups of maximum 25 people, visitors aged under 27, disabled individuals, teachers, military and law enforcement personnel, holders of Genoa’s hotel discount coupons, holders of Genoa’s Civic Museum cards, holders of Genoa Theaters’ season tickets, Amici di Palazzo Ducale and Musei Liguri Card, employees of IREN with one accompanying person.

€ 8.00 Discounted Ticket Card Ducale+

€ 6.00 Special Discounted Ticket for schools

€ 5.00 Special Discounted Ticket for visitors under 27, on Tuesdays (except on a bank holiday)

Special family Ticket (from 2 to 5 persons): 10 € standard ticket Adults (1 or 2 adults) + € 5 discounted ticket first and second child (aged 6 to 13); free (for kids aged 3 to 5). Third child: free.

Free admission for children under 6, one group leader, two accompanying teachers per school class, licensed Italian tour guides, journalists with valid press card after getting accredited with our Press Office, one accompanying person, if required, for each disabled visitor with certified invalidity and providing appropriate certificates, ICOM. Booking fees: € 2.00 for standard, discounted, group tickets; € 1.00 for special discounted ticket for schools, visitors under 18, CUS card holders.

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