MAURO D’AGATI
www.maurodagati.tumblr.com
Mauro D’Agati, born in 1968 in Palermo, gained a law degree before beginning working as a professional photographer in 1995. He initially documented Sicilian jazz festivals, art and theatre events, before contributing to Italian and international magazines. D’Agati specializes in social documentary photography. He has exhibited his work in Italy and abroad. In 2018 D’Agati established an independent publishing house 89books. Lives and works in Palermo.
EXHIBITIONS
2001 A SPASSO FELPATO, Cantieri Culturali della Zisa Grande Vasca, Palermo, Italy
1999 A SPASSO FELPATO, Circolo Tina Modotti, Bolzano, Italy
2002 DUE STORIE ESTIVE DI PALERMO SENZA MAFIA, Cantieri Culturali della Zisa Galleria Bianca, Palermo, Italy
2005 DENTRO, Galleria Biotos, Palermo, Italy
2006 SCATTI SUL CRETTO, Museo Civico, Gibellina, Italy
2007 DENTRO, Ex Chiesa San Pietro, Agrigento, Italy
2009 PALERMO UNSUNG, Associazione Katakusinos, Palermo, Italy
2011 ALAMAR, Galleria Camera 16 Contemporary Art, Milan, Italy
2003 VUCCIRIA, VHS Photogalerie, Stuttgart, Germany
2005 VUCCIRIA, Galleria Forma, Milan, Italy
2007 VUCCIRIA, Ulis foto Fest, Istanbul, Turkey
2008 VUCCIRIA, Mois de la Photo, Paris, France
2013 VUCCIRIA, De Qeeste Art “Re:Imagine 2013 Europe”, Ypres, Belgium
2013 NAPULE SHOT, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, USA
2015 PALERMO PANORAMA, Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa, Spazio ZAC, Palermo, Italy
2019 MARZIA’S FAMILY, Contempo 2019 Festival, Conversano, Italy
BOOKS
A SPASSO FELPATO / Charta, 1999
VUCCIRIA / Contrasto, 2005
PALERMO UNSUNG / Steidl, 2009
ALAMAR / Steidl, 2010
NAPULE SHOT / Steidl, 2010
LESS VEGAS / Ahrens Editions, 2011
SIT LUX ET LUX FUIT / Steidl, 2012
MARZIA’S FAMILY / Steidl, 2015
D’AGATI VUCCIRIA / 89books, 2019
ONIRICUS / 89books, 2019
TAN / 89books, 2019
As a photographer, I’ve always been interested in other people’s lives, their daily struggles, habits, and environments they inhabit. Driven by this interest and my natural instincts I usually end up documenting peculiar and unknown subjects that I meet almost accidentally. Marzia’s family is not an exception, but unlike other exciting projects that kept me occupied for some time, this one has become a lifetime project. My intention is to continue following the family, with whom I have bonded over the years. The project Marzia’s Family is a record of the tide of life, a chronicle of one particular family that in my opinion speaks for many. I met six-year-old Marzia while at the beach ten years ago. Despite being considerably overweight, she was graceful and charming. Captured by Marzia’s sincere and genuine emotions, I started following her and the family with my camera, to the point of becoming an adopted member of it. My lifelong interest in the investigation of the human condition went off well with the family’s acceptance and openness towards me. The girl, her parents, and siblings would go to the Agglomerato Industriale beach of Termini Imerese for a holiday to escape their bleak routine. Sicilian summer nights are warm, so the family would just put an encampment on the parking point next to an old truck. The vehicle generates family’s main income as Franco, the father, sells vegetables and fruits from it six days a week excluding Sunday. The rest are unemployed or have temporary jobs. Giovanna, Claudio, Marzia, Riccardo, and Martina are siblings ranging from eighteen to three years old. Their mother, Giusy is in her early forties and helped out around the house by Franco’s mother and his two unmarried sisters, Angelina and Pupetta. They live near Via Decollati, quartiere Oreto/ Stazione in a slum, lodging in the former stables. Apparently, city residents are largely unaware of the living conditions of families like Marzia’s. For me, the project is a nonjudgmental systematic investigation of Marzia’s journey from childhood to adolescence, as well as the human condition of an underprivileged family, an exploration that the family and myself undertook without knowing the prospects.
https://sandeng.se/fotograf_mauro_dagati/