Franco Lanteri's 'People of Lentini' Published by a+mbookstore

A new book titled 'People of Lentini. Self-image culture, 1972-1980' collects portraits by Italian photographer Franco Lanteri, published by a+mbookstore edizioni in Milan with Colli Publishing platform in Rome. The large-format volume is structured in three parts: all portraits first face left, then center, then right, deliberately transgressing conventional graphic design rules. Editor Salvatore Lanteri selected images from his father Franco's studio archive (1967-1990), all shot in Lentini, Syracuse province, using a 6x9 view camera without flash. Editor Amedeo Martegani and Lanteri chose the 1972-1980 period, creating an 'anti-canon' opposed to Thomas Ruff's passport photos or August Sander's 'People of the Twentieth Century'. Franco Lanteri knew his subjects intimately but none are identified by name. Alongside his photography studio, Lanteri and his wife ran a fashion boutique that brought Fiorucci to Lentini; subjects wear Lozza glasses, geometric sweaters by Umberto Ginocchietti, 1970s chains, and tight white shirts. The work was not intended as art but the book transforms it into a valuable artist's book, a family story without names, a civic theater, a social parade.