The competition commission “ Sardinia Reportage ”, which met in Gavoi on 13 June last, identified four projects among the one hundred and one presented at the MAN Museum by as many competitors, highlighting in particular the work of Matteo Melis , “Cagliari, life and customs of a city of 2015”.
The other projects reported by the commission are the reportages of Erik Chevalier , “No Man’s Land”, by Bruno Olivieri , “The desire”, and of Stefano Pia , “Zero Kilometers”. The commission also deemed it appropriate to give a special mention to some individual shots presented by the photographers Paolo Marchi, Gigi Murru, Virgilio Piras And Daniele Pischedda .
Inspired by the work of Vivian Maier , to which the MAN will dedicate an important retrospective starting next July 10, the 2015 “Sardinia Reportage” competition was dedicated to street photography ( Street Photography), a genre that turns its attention to life in public spaces, and required the ability to describe environments, people, situations or urban contexts of today’s Sardinia through the photographic medium, focusing on daily life, changes in customs, interactions human beings, the spirit and the contradictions of our time. Consistent with what was requested, the works identified by the jury stand out for their ability to capture curious or pathos-filled situations and for their timing in capturing significant moments. The original motivations, the identified themes, the communicative strength, the relevance to the chosen genre, as well as the formal and quality aspects of the images were evaluated for the various works.
The commission – composed of Michele Smargiassi , journalist for Repubblica and editor of the Fotocracy blog, Paolo Curreli , editor of the cultural pages of New Sardinia and Max Solinas , journalist, photo editor and photojournalist of the Sardinian Union – motivated his choice as follows:
“Among all the projects presented, very different from each other in terms of intentions and quality, the jury chose to select four personal portfolios and as many single shots, different from each other in terms of sensitivity, formal approach, choice of subjects and style. We would like to highlight Matteo Melis’ project, “Cagliari, life and customs of a city of 2015”. The five photographs presented capture, with stylistic coherence and sensitivity of gaze, changes in the contemporary city in which traces of a local specificity can still be seen but have now been diluted in the wake of globalisation. In the jury’s opinion, the author has well interpreted the now classic language of “street photography”, as requested by the announcement, declining it in a personal way; the attention to the banal as well as to the unusual aspect of human relationships in a corner of an urban scene make this work particularly interesting and noteworthy”.
Matteo Melis’ project, together with the other works indicated by the commission, will be presented at the MAN Museum starting from July 10th, in conjunction with the exhibition dedicated to Vivian Maier.
