The exhibition “Poets, masks, actors, ghosts” by Mario Lasalandra – Italian photographer, set designer and painter – has been organised with the support of the Italian Embassy in Tbilisi as part of the 24th edition of the Kolga Photo Festival. It will be open to the public until 12 June at the Zurab Tsereteli Museum of Modern Art (MOMA).
Curated by Paola Lasalandra and inaugurated by Ambassador Massimiliano D’Antuono, the exhibition presents a gallery of more than 150 strictly black-and-white photographs taken between 1962 and 2011. The collection invites the viewer into the photographer’s imaginary world, where characters exist between the real and the surreal, and where fantasy and magic prevail through metaphors, allegories, and symbols.
Ambassador D’Antuono commented: “The promotion of Italian photography is part of our cultural diplomacy, to which the Italian Embassy in Tbilisi is strongly committed. And who better than Mario Lasalandra – one of the most innovative and brilliant figures in contemporary Italian photography – to represent this art form at its best over the past 50 years?”.
The exhibition opening featured a reinterpretation of the surreal performance “Magico”, conceived and produced by Lasalandra between 2003 and 2013 in San Felice sul Panaro. The performance and overall artistic direction of the project were curated by Georgian artist Irakli Nassidzé.
Kolga Tbilisi Photo, an international photography festival, this year brought together over 900 projects from 700 local and international photographers through exhibitions, events, and workshops. Among the shortlisted photographers were 15 Italians, one of whom – freelance photographer Daniele Vita – won the award in the “Reportage” category with his project “Joe The Aviator”.
