Where water once flowed, now light flows. It moves, plays with matter. It composes shadows. The exhibition ‘Nino Migliori: Lumen, Fonte Gaia’ was inaugurated in the Magazzini della Corticella of Santa Maria della Scala, a journey of thirty-five shots by the great photographer that portray details and shapes of Jacopo Della Quercia’s masterpiece, lit by candles, in a black and white that enhances its expressiveness. “Matter, light and the photographer’s eye working together”, as commented Marina Truant Migliori, director of the Nino Migliori Foundation, during the presentation of the exhibition, which will remain until September 22, following the opening hours of the museum complex (every day from 10 am to 7 pm).
“Coming into direct contact with a masterpiece – says the photographer – is a profound emotion and the flame of the candle, which offers new visions with every slightest movement, creates a suspended atmosphere. In particular, I was carried away by the emotion of seeing and touching the stone worn by time and its own fragility, accompanied by the attempt to search for possible forms that corresponded to my feelings”. The exhibition, curated by Lucia Simona Pacchierotti in collaboration with the Nino Migliori Foundation of Bologna, offers an exhibition itinerary, which winds through the evocative underground warehouses of the Sienese museum complex, in which the visitor will be able to relate the photographs with the original sculptures, which make up a work considered profoundly identifying for the city of Siena, kept in the rooms adjacent to those in which Migliori’s photos are exhibited.
Alongside the shots of the Bolognese artist, there are some images and a backstage video by three photographers from the Siena Foto Club who accompanied the master during the shooting session: Mauro Guerrini, Gianni Lombardini and Carlo Pennatini. “Migliori has created a site specific site for Siena – explained the director of Santa Maria della Scala, Chiara Valdambrini – which fully follows the lines of valorisation that the Foundation intends to develop”. “This exhibition – added the vice-president of the Santa Maria, Niccolò Fiorini – underlines our growing commitment to making the most of everything that the Santa Maria della Scala can offer”.
“A light that vibrates and moves – commented the curator, Lucia Simona Pacchierotti – makes the shapes abstract, fluid, in movement. The result was a series of images where the figures of the Fonte Gaia, reread by ‘candlelight’ , have taken on a new meaning.”
Richard Brown
