“Maradona” by Sergio Siano
On the occasion of Photo London
Exhibition Opening
Curated by Yvonne de Rosa for Magazzini Fotografici
Sergio Siano was a photo reporter in the 80s, in the San Paolo stadium in Naples. His reportage depicts the Argentinian champion for what he really was: a great athlete, a funny jester, the icon of a whole city, which is also portrayed in those days of football wins.
“On 5 July 1984, when Maradona first arrived in Naples, I was among the 70 thousand people in the Stadium, waiting to greet the new King of Naples, Diego Armando Maradona. I watched him climbing up the steps, his movements seemed slower than usual, but then he put his foot down on the pitch and the crowd let out a roar which pierced my eardrums, my heart beating as fast as the drums in the stands, I took off my t shirt as the sun was warm but the people’s love for Maradona was warmer.
“At the end of training, I should have finished working but if Diego stayed on, I did too. On the tiers, people arrived from all over, children and grown up, just to see him; Maradona looked everyone in the eye, and kept the performance on, the most wonderful performance in the world, in the Centro Paradiso training grounds.
He dribbled and everything stopped, even the clocks, we watched in silence what resembled an ancient tribal ceremony, between the D10S and his own leather totem, his special relationship with the football which never stopped even in the rain. He rolled in the mud, like the “scugnizzi” in Naples downtown, where I was born and bred.
Sergio Siano, from Naples, has been a photoreporter for Naples main daily newspaper Il Mattino for over 30 years. He is the author of Con gli occhi di Caravaggio, Vicoli, Un viaggio napoletano and Il mare che bagna Napoli, and has collaborated to the Storia fotografica di Napoli. He has been awarded the Premio Lamont Young in 1998 and the Premio Cosimo Fanzago in 2010.
Magazzini Fotografici is an independent association of social promotion conceived by Yvonne De Rosa with the aim of encouraging the popularization of the art of photography. Housed in the historical centre of Naples, recognized by UNESCO, in the Palazzo Caracciolo D’Avellino del Decumano superiore, Magazzini Fotografici is also a regeneration project of the area.
Special breakfast preview Tuesday 14 May, 10 am, part of the VIP Programme of Photolondon
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Exhibtion Opening, Wednesday 14 May, 7pm
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