Lisetta Carmi, Nuoro, Il funerale del carabiniere, 1962, silver salt print, 30.3 × 40.7 cm
(donation from the Lisetta Carmi Archive, Martini & Ronchetti Gallery, Genoa)
Protagonist of an important retrospective held at the MAN in 2021, titled “Cheerful Voices in the Dark”, Lisetta Carmi is considered one of the greatest and most significant figures in Italian photography.
She died three years ago in the Bhole Baba ashram (spiritual community) in Cisternino, Puglia—a place she founded after meeting the spiritual guide Haidakhan Babaji during one of her trips to the East.
Known for her photo reportages on the shipyard workers of Genoa—in which her shots denounce their deplorable working conditions—and on the world of transvestites, her photographs have become almost a manifesto. Lisetta became a witness to the changes of the post-war period, which she documented with her camera as she wandered the streets, focusing especially on capturing gazes, gestures, and fleeting moments. Minorities, the marginalized, and the forgotten became the protagonists of her visual narratives.
The MAN holds 10 of her works in its collection, donated following the exhibition dedicated to her.
The works are part of the photographic corpus dedicated to Sardinia, created during Lisetta’s repeated journeys to the island between 1962 and 1976. After reading Diary of a Young Schoolteacher by Maria Giacobbe—published in installments in the magazine Il Mondo—Lisetta decided to contact the Piras family from Orgosolo, who welcomed her during her various stays on the island.
Her photographs portray women weaving or baking bread, and children with joyful expressions during the Feast of Candelaria, when they go from house to house receiving gifts and treats.
Lisetta traveled through the island’s inland regions as well as the Gallura area—such as Porto Cervo, which, at the time, was undergoing intense real estate speculation.
The photo featured in this column is perhaps the most iconic of the series.
Strictly black and white, like all the images in the collection, it was taken during the funeral of carabiniere Carmelo Natoli Scialli, who died in a shootout with bandits. The photo captures the church’s forecourt where, despite the solemnity of the moment, the carefree stride of the boy in the foreground unconsciously steals the scene.