Andrea Modica's 'Italian Story' Deconstructs Clichés of Italy

Andrea Modica's photobook 'Italian Story,' published by L'Artiere, challenges stereotypical images of Italy through surreal, dreamlike photographs taken over four decades. The American photographer, born in 1960, first traveled to Italy in the late 1980s on a Fulbright scholarship to explore her Sicilian and Neapolitan heritage. Rather than a documentary about family origins, the book presents a network of ambiguous scenes: motionless figures in water, dead fish, bodies behind mosquito nets, and Madonna figurines. Modica cites Surrealist influence, creating images that feel like half-remembered dreams. She uses an analog 8x10 large-format camera and platinum-palladium prints, a 19th-century process that demands slow, collaborative photography. The title plays on the Italian word 'storia,' meaning story, history, or trouble. The book interweaves portraits of her mother (a pianist who lost her fingers), students, friends, family, and strangers, spanning brief encounters and decades-long relationships. Modica resists biographical interpretations, emphasizing the interconnectedness of images rather than linear narrative.