Gomma Photography Grant 2024
How long is the night?
Photographer
Filippo Venturi
How long is the night?
20 Jan, 2025
"The Antrona Valley is a territory which, for centuries, has been explored and excavated in search of gold and today boasts countless abandoned and forgotten mines. Here lies Viganella, a town of about 200 inhabitants which, between 11 November and 2 February, for 83 days, is not illuminated by the sun, hidden behind the natural barrier formed by the valley, thus finding itself immersed in a constant shadow that changes colours and moods. The prolonged absence of the sun provoked a visionary and poetic reaction: the installation of a large rotating mirror, on top of the mountain to the north, enabling the sun’s rays to be reflected onto the town. For all the inhabitants, 11 November 2006 is “the day of light”, the magical moment in which the mirror, weighing 1100 kg, was inaugurated, installed uphill from the village at an altitude of 1050 metres, where on clear days the sun arrives and stays from 9 am to about 3 pm. After 15 years, the mirror did not work, leaving the town in darkness. I’ve attempted to stratify my visual investigation into a place which, just like the photographic medium, suffers from the lack of light."
About the photographer
Filippo Venturi
Filippo Venturi is an Italian documentary photographer. He produces personal projects concerning identity and the human condition. His works have been published in leading international magazines, such as The Washington Post, The Guardian, Financial Times, Vanity Fair, Marie Claire, Newsweek, Geo, Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, Stern, Das Magazin, Internazionale, La Repubblica, Il Corriere della Sera and La Stampa. For the past years he has been engaged in a project on the Korean peninsula, earning him the Sony World Photography award, the LensCulture Emerging Talent Award, the Il Reportage Award, the Voglino Award and the Portfolio Italia – Grand Prix Hasselblad. His works have been exhibited in Italy and abroad in exhibition spaces and festivals like Foro Boario in Modena as "New Talent" of the Modena Photography Foundation, MACRO - Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome, Somerset House in London, U Space in Beijing, Willy Brandt Haus in Berlin, Sony Square in New York City, Copenhagen Photo Festival, Voies Off Awards at Les Rencontres d'Arles, Photolux in Lucca, SI Fest in Savignano sul Rubicone, Riaperture Photofestival in Ferrara, PhMuseum Days Photo Festival in Bologna and Festival of Ethical Photography in Lodi.
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