TITLE: ItAliens

The project was inspired by "Un Paese" (1955), a photobook in which the writer Cesare Zavattini invited Paul Strand to photograph Luzzara, Zavattini's birthplace.

«Let us look at Paul Strand's photographs together – writes in the preface Zavattini – under which can be read the confidences of my countrymen (…). I would have liked to interview at least a thousand of them and make a big book, giving each one a page. I should do such a work one day, it's just a question of good will. If I don't think of it, someone else will, and in a way that I hope will be more profound and complete.»

Almost seventy years later, these words sound as a prophetic tone. Yes, because Italy has changed, and with it the people who live there. That's how I decided to follow Zavattini's "modus operandi", portraying and interviewing the people of my province: Ancona. The entire project consists of about 40 portraits, of which I offer here a selection.

AUTHOR: Sergio Marcelli (Italy)

I was born in Ancona, Italy, in 1971.
I approached photography during a two-year course in Visual Design, working first as an assistant, then as a photographer, both in commercial and artistic fields.
For more than twenty years I have been teaching photography, both at schools and academies, and through private courses. This experience allowed me to publish, in 2016 for Hoepli editore, a manual of photographic technique.
Towards the end of the ‘90s I approached cinema, soon falling in love with Super 8. I am currently directing a documentary on FM Einheit, a well-known musician from Einstürzende Neubauten. Documentary that I shoot using both film and digital.
My works have been shown in several exhibitions, in Italy and abroad, and are part of private and museum collections.