Exhibition of Silvia Camporesi in the new spaces of the Centro della Fotografia di Roma Capitale, curated by Federica Muzzarelli.
Date:
Event location: 4 Piazza Orazio Giustiniani, 00153 Rome
The exhibition C’è un tempo e un luogo, open to the public until 29 June in the new spaces of the Centro della Fotografia di Roma Capitale, is curated by Federica Muzzarelli and is dedicated to the photographic work of Silvia Camporesi.
The title draws inspiration from Peter Weir’s cult film Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), a work imbued with mystery and temporal suspension, in which places become the absolute protagonists of a narrative without resolution. It stems from a deep reflection on the concept of fracture: between the real and the artificial, nature and culture, presence and absence, past and present. As in the film, time seems to stand still in Silvia Camporesi’s images, and space is charged with enigmatic energy. The places—real, altered, reconstructed, or imagined—are never mere subjects, but the visible outcome of a deeper process: the journey, both physical and mental, of the artist through geographic, historical, and emotional territories.
"Places are the indisputable protagonists of Silvia Camporesi’s photographs: real, false, modified, invented, experienced, distorted, or simply found. But these places, these photographs, are the final point, the material outcome of something far more significant and foundational in her work as an artist. That is, the journey, the experience, the travel through and alongside these places. From La terza Venezia to Journey to Armenia, from Atlas Italiæ to Almanacco Sentimentale and from Mirabilia to Omaggio al Mattatoio, Silvia Camporesi’s work exemplifies the special and magical fusion between artistic expression and the autobiographical impulse that photography can uniquely render. An attraction to what is not where it should be, calling to be supported and amplified to become even stranger and more unsettling. Essentially, the secret within things, which for this reason must also reside within the soul of photography," declares curator Federica Muzzarelli, Full Professor of History of Photography at the Department of Arts, University of Bologna, and coordinator of the FAF Research Center (Photography, Art, Feminisms).
The exhibition is organized into five sections and brings together five key series produced over fifteen years of activity: La terza Venezia, Journey to Armenia, Atlas Italiæ, Almanacco Sentimentale, and Mirabilia, also including Omaggio al Mattatoio, a work that will become part of the newly established Archive of the Centro della Fotografia.
Though diverse, these projects are interconnected, reflecting a photographic practice in constant balance between documentary and fiction, methodological rigor and imaginative freedom. From the suspended Venice of La terza Venezia, to the historical and human layering of Armenia, from abandoned Italian villages as places of memory and care, to the photographic reconstruction of unrealized or unresolved events and the visionary architectures of Mirabilia, Camporesi builds a poetic atlas in which photography becomes both a tool for knowledge and for disorientation. Central to this research is the idea of photography as an experience of fractures: temporal, forcing past and present to coexist; ontological, between truth and manipulation; symbolic, between appearance and substance. Within this tension emerges an artistic practice that combines the autobiographical impulse with landscape inquiry, transforming the image into a space of meditation, silence, and mystery. A reflection on photography as a boundary: between true and false, natural and artificial, past and present. The images challenge what we see and what we believe we know, inviting the viewer to slow down and embrace uncertainty as part of the experience.
C’è un tempo e un luogo is thus a visual narrative about memory, fragility, and transformation. The exhibition invites viewers to lose themselves in places and their secrets, reminding us that, as in photography, there are spaces and moments in reality that defy explanation. The exhibition offers a coherent and layered vision of Silvia Camporesi’s work, confirming her central role in the Italian contemporary photography scene: a research practice capable of revealing, through places, what remains hidden, fragile, and unspeakable. The exhibition is promoted by Roma Capitale and Fondazione Mattatoio, and organized by Civita Mostre e Musei.
A catalog curated by Cimorelli Editore accompanies the exhibition.
BIO
Silvia Camporesi (b. 1973) holds a degree in philosophy and works with photography and video. In recent years, her research has focused on the Italian landscape. Since 2004, she has held numerous solo and group exhibitions in Italy and abroad, won several awards, and published several texts, including Una foto è una foto è una foto (2025, Einaudi, Torino) and Romagna sfigurata (Sagèp, Genova).
In addition to her artistic activity, she conducts research on contemporary photographic trends and leads workshops and lectures in Italy. Her works are part of public and private collections in Italy and internationally.