Michele Pellegrino's 50-Year Retrospective at Camera in Turin

Camera – Centro Italiano per la Fotografia in Turin presents a retrospective of Michele Pellegrino, who turned 90 in 2024. The exhibition, curated by Barbara Bergaglio, features 50 photographs spanning over five decades, organized into five sections: 'Esodo' (the depopulation of the Cuneo mountains in the 1970s), 'Visages de la contemplation' (cloistered convents), 'Scene di matrimonio' (wedding scenes with an ironic twist), 'Le nitide vette' (mountain peaks), and 'Langa' (the Langhe region). Pellegrino, born in 1934 in Chiusa di Pesio, Cuneo, is deeply tied to his native Alps. The show originated from a 2017 donation of part of his archive to the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo, which entrusted Camera with its reorganization and digitization. Pellegrino emphasizes that his work on rural depopulation began two months before Nuto Revelli's 1977 book 'Il mondo dei vinti'. He gained the trust of mountain inhabitants, documenting their harsh lives. His 'Visages de la contemplation' project took eight years to realize after seeing Sergio Zavoli's TV report 'Clausura'; he became the sixth layperson in six centuries to enter the Grande Chartreuse monastery. Later works exclude human figures, focusing on metaphysical black-and-white landscapes. During lockdown, he photographed clouds from his home windows. The exhibition runs at Camera in Turin.