The exhibition Oblique Writing - Photography and Poetry is curated by Matteo Balduzzi - Scientific Committee of the project and exhibition composed of Davide Rondoni, Matteo Balduzzi, Corrado Benigni, Gabriella Guerci, Michele Nastasi, Giorgio Zanchetti, Mauro Zanchi. An exhibition project that explores the possible relationships between photography and poetry, through the works of seven photographers from the contemporary art scene: Luca Campigotto, Federico Clavarino, Sabrina D’Alessandro, Linda Fregni Nagler, Alessandro Sambini, Alessandra Spranzi, Paolo Ventura.

The research that led to this exhibition began with a dialogue initiated in September 2023, when a working group - including Davide Rondoni, Matteo Balduzzi, Corrado Benigni, Gabriella Guerci, Silvia Mazzucchelli, Giorgio Zanchetti, and with the generous and enthusiastic participation of the master Giovanni Chiaramonte - gathered at the library of the Museum and questioned the possibility of bringing together languages considered distant: photography as an objective and direct reflection of reality, and poetry as a purer and more intimate expression of subjectivity. From this comparison arises the desire to explore, through artistic practice, the tensions and short circuits that emerge in the relationship between image and word.

The theme is analyzed starting from illustrious examples of photography from the United States of America, where this connection is evident from the origins of photography, in authors such as Herman Melville and Carleton Watkins in the 19th century, Walt Whitman and Edward Weston at the beginning of the 20th century, and then in the post-war Beat Generation, in authors such as Jack Kerouac, Robert Frank, and Minor White.

In Italy, the work of the master Ugo Mulas dedicated to the equally imposing figure of Eugenio Montale is mentioned, particularly to the collection Cuttlefish Bones. A central role is played by Mario Giacomelli, who throughout his career has often drawn inspiration from poetry, directly engaging with poets and with verses and works by authors such as Giacomo Leopardi, Cesare Pavese, Mario Luzi, Francesco Permunian, Sergio Corazzini, Vincenzo Cardarelli, David Maria Turoldo, but also Edgard Lee Masters, Emily Dickinson, Jorge Luis Borges. Other Italian authors have also emerged who have had a close relationship with poetry, in divergent ways: Franco Vaccari with the visual poetry of his beginnings, Luigi Ghirri with the poetic-poetry of the everyday in his research, often associated with a literary character, Giovanni Gastel and Giovanni Chiaramonte, who have also cultivated a personal, parallel relationship with poetic language, and Giulia Niccolai, who oscillates and understands both.