ICI London proudly supports The Photographers’ Gallery presenting a solo show of work by Italian photographer Letizia Battaglia (1935-2022).
“Photography changes nothing. Violence continues, poverty continues. Children are still being killed in stupid wars.”
Letizia Battaglia
Born in Palermo, Sicily in 1935, Battaglia began her photographic career in the early 1970s, when she was in her mid-forties. She documented everyday life, alongside the brutal reality of the Mafia and their victims in Sicily during the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. Her images are some of the best-known records of life in the shadow of the Mafia.
In her relentless pursuit against organised crime, she used her camera to document the daily terror, putting it on the front page. Reporting for the daily newspaper L’Ora, she or one of her colleagues, was present at every major crime scene in the city over two decades.
Battaglia mainly photographed in black and white. She also captured daily life: women and children in their neighbourhoods and streets, showing the wealth of the area and at the same time the misery of a city almost abandoned to its fate. Her pictures capture the poverty on the streets as well as the life of the upper classes, religious processions, festivals, funerals and much more.
Letizia Battaglia: Life, Love and Death in Sicily is the first major exhibition in the UK following her death in 2022. The exhibition is curated by Paolo Falcone, in collaboration with the Letizia Battaglia Archive and Fondazione Falcone for the Arts, and supported by the Fondazione Candido Speroni e Carla Fendi Speroni, The Italian Cultural Institute, London and Ambra & Antonio Gatti.
More information about the exhibition and advance tickets HERE
PLEASE NOTE: IIC Members and friends can enjoy an exclusive 2 for 1 full price ticket offer for the Letizia Battaglia exhibition! Use code iic at check-out. Offer available from 9 October to 23 February 2025 when booking for two full price tickets on the website https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/letizia-battaglia-life-love-and-death-sicily
This exhibition has potentially triggering content. Please email The Photographers’ Gallery for further information, or speak to a member of staff.
In collaboration with
Cover Image: The arrest of the ferocious Mafia boss Leoluca Bagarella. (L’arresto del feroce boss mafioso Leoluca Bagarella), Palermo, 1979. Photo by Letizia Battaglia © Archivio Letizia Battaglia – all rights reserved.