With this exhibition, CSAC aims to pay tribute to a period of photographic and anthropological research that is still little known in Italy but of great international importance. The investigations conducted by the Spinis represent a turning point in the way of doing “field ethnography” in Africa, placing them among the leading authors in Italy to have continuously experimented with the use of photography as both an aesthetic and interpretative tool for ethnographic purposes.
Their approach, developed in part through engagement with the thinking of Margaret Mead, John Collier Jr. and the methodologies of visual anthropology, has made it possible to challenge established narratives about the Dogon and Bozo communities, offering more complex representations of the places and peoples they encountered. Through a careful and methodologically rigorous approach, the Spinis have constructed a visual dialogue that does not merely document, but problematises and restores the cultural richness of the contexts studied.
The Spini photographs are also characterised by an evident expressive power that has made them the subject of interest for art critics, gallery owners and photographers such as Arturo Carlo Quintavalle, Lanfranco Colombo and Mario Cresci, or anthropologists such as Marco Aime, who have recognised their particular aesthetic significance and their ability to renew the language of cultural reportage.
The exhibition, centred around themes such as different ways of living and the relationship between the Dogon and Bozo peoples and their respective domestic and working environments, allows visitors to rediscover the artistic and historical value of the Spini’s research, opening up a space for reflection on the relationships between photography, anthropology and visual memory.
The photographs on display from the CSAC collections are placed in close dialogue with a selection of documentary materials preserved at the Sandro Spini Archive in Bergamo, highlighting the processes of constructing ethnographic knowledge and the ways in which images become tools for research, narration and intercultural relations.
Sguardi sull’Africa: le fotografie di Tito e Sandro Spini nelle collezioni CSAC
curated by Alessandra Acocella and Alessandro Ferraro
21 February – 26 April 2026
CSAC Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione dell’Università di Parma
Abbazia di Valserena
Strada Viazza di Paradigna 1, 43122 Parma
Museum opening hours
Friday 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Admission
Full price ticket: €10.00
For information and discounts: https://www.csacparma.it/visita/
Information and bookings
CSAC – Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione dell’Università di Parma csac@unipr.it
servizimuseali@csacunipr.it
+ 39 0521 903500
