On Tuesday 28 January, a group of A Level Italianists from 色中色视频鈥檚 and 色中色视频鈥檚 Girls’ School visited two exhibitions in London to deepen their understanding of social and cultural movements studied at school.
Their first visit was to the Photographer鈥檚 Gallery, where pupils visited the temporary exhibition Letizia Battaglia: Life, Love and Death in Sicily. Born in Palermo, Battaglia documented everyday life, alongside the brutal reality of the Mafia and their victims in Sicily during the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. In her relentless pursuit against organised crime, she used her camera to document the daily terror, putting it on the front page. Pupils even observed an anonymous letter that the photographer received, in which threats of violence were used to intimidate her into cease publishing images of the Mafia鈥檚 victims.
After an Italian lunch at an Islington restaurant, pupils moved to the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art in Canonbury. Pupils studying the Futurist movement as part of their study of the rise of Italian fascism, benefitted from an in-depth presentation and discussion in Italian of post-war artists such as Boccioni, Carr脿, Russolo, Severini, and Balla. Pupils also had the chance to view pieces from the fascist period and sketches by Modigliani.
Thanks to Mrs Tanzini-Hale, Mrs Knight (SPGS), and Miss Rahim for organising such a fascinating trip.