Vatican Museums' New Photo Collection Debuts in Milan Exhibition

Following the Holy See's debut at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, the Vatican presents 'In piena luce' at Palazzo Reale in Milan, curated by Micol Forti and Alessandra Mauro. The exhibition showcases a new photographic nucleus within the Vatican Museums' Contemporary Art Collection, created after nine photographers were commissioned in 2015 to interpret the papal museums. Peter Bialobrzeski captured the architecture from a bird's-eye view; Alain Fleischer used panoramic photos to highlight historical layering; Antonio Biasiucci focused on normally inaccessible storage areas; Mimmo Jodice immortalized classical statuary; Francesco Jodice photographed visitors, questioning who watches whom; Martin Parr documented Instagram-era mass tourism; Rinko Kawauchi explored imperfection and contemplation; Massimo Siragusa depicted dreamlike interior spaces; and Bill Armstrong rendered the Sistine Chapel with blur and dissolution, evoking Michelangelo. The project underscores the Church's engagement with photography as a language of the 'image era' and continues Pope Paul VI's mission, who reopened dialogue between the Church and artists in 1973 by inaugurating a contemporary art collection.