Mario Giacomelli's Neorealist Photography on View in Rome

A new exhibition at Galleria Gilda Lavia in Rome presents the powerful black-and-white photographs of Mario Giacomelli (Senigallia, 1915–2000). The show focuses on his neorealist series depicting elderly people in hospices, solitude, and death, drawing a parallel to Angelo Morbelli's early 20th-century paintings of the elderly at Pio Albergo Trivulzio in Milan. Giacomelli's work, however, introduces a lyrical, dreamlike, and dramatic vision through photography. His landscapes and plowed fields appear as desolate wastelands, reflecting not only geography but also the human soul. A key image of two young people on a swing encapsulates the theme of time's relentless passage. The exhibition also includes an audio loop of Giacomelli's own words on his creative process and his view of photography as a ritual and anthropological act. The show is curated by Fabio Petrelli, who wrote the accompanying text.