Riaperture Festival: Ferrara's First Photography Festival Explores Memory and Abandoned Spaces

Riaperture, the first photography festival in Ferrara, Italy, took place from March 17 to 19, 2017, organized by the association of the same name. The festival aimed to reclaim memory by exhibiting photographs in seven abandoned or disused venues across the city, including a former pub, a fruit and vegetable shop, a historic palace, and the empty auditorium of the Conservatory of Ferrara. The works on display addressed themes of absence, suspension, and contradiction. Featured artists included Danilo Garcia Di Meo with a portrait of Ambra, a deaf boxer; Giovanni Troilo with images of Charleroi, Belgium, once a symbol of integration and prosperity; Massimo Mastrorillo with 'Aliqual' depicting post-earthquake L'Aquila; Giovanni Cocco with 'Monia' about his disabled sister; Barbara Baiocchi with 'Sempre si vince' comparing the world of fairground workers to abandoned public housing; and 'Disco Emilia' mapping historic discotheques of Emilia. The festival's concept was inspired by a quote from a resident of L'Aquila: 'An earthquake can destroy houses, but only man can destroy roots.'