Photography's shift from journalism to art market debated in Genoa

A conference at Palazzo Ducale in Genoa, part of La Settimanale di Fotografia from May 17 to 20, 2018, examined how photojournalism is migrating into the art market. Photographer and photo editor Leonello Bertolucci argued that photography, once a horizontal, mass-reproducible medium, is now being sold in limited editions and stored like artworks, altering its nature. He noted that even agencies like Magnum have opened galleries. Paolo Woods, a two-time World Press Photo winner, published his work on tax havens, The Heavens, with Gabriele Galimberti as a corporate annual report; one image was bought by a director of an agency that sends money to those havens. Woods emphasized that photographs must circulate freely. Andrea Frazzetta, a contributor to The New York Times Magazine and National Geographic Travel, said some photographers go beyond photojournalism and turn to galleries, but few can reconcile both worlds, citing Paolo Pellegrin as an exception. He highlighted new technologies like virtual reality, exemplified by his documentary The Land of Salt and Fire for The New York Times, shot in a desert area of Ethiopia.