{"id":44989,"date":"2026-02-23T15:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T14:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sma.unipr.it\/event\/allo-csac-la-mostra-sguardi-sullafrica-le-fotografie-di-tito-e-sandro-spini-nelle-collezioni-csac\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T09:22:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T08:22:02","slug":"allo-csac-la-mostra-sguardi-sullafrica-le-fotografie-di-tito-e-sandro-spini-nelle-collezioni-csac","status":"publish","type":"tribe_events","link":"http:\/\/www.sma.unipr.it\/en\/event\/allo-csac-la-mostra-sguardi-sullafrica-le-fotografie-di-tito-e-sandro-spini-nelle-collezioni-csac\/","title":{"rendered":"At CSAC, the exhibition “Sguardi sull’Africa: le fotografie di Tito e Sandro Spini nelle collezioni CSAC”"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday 21 February, the exhibition Sguardi sull’Africa: le fotografie di Tito e Sandro Spini nelle collezioni CSAC<\/strong><\/em> (Views of Africa: photographs by Tito and Sandro Spini in the CSAC collections) was inaugurated at the Abbey of Valserena, offering the public the opportunity to discover a photographic and documentary corpus of extraordinary historical, artistic and anthropological importance. The exhibition, created as part of the PRIN PNRR 2022 project Straniere: the reception of non-European arts and cultures in Italy (1945-2000), presents unpublished material related to field research and photographic campaigns conducted by Tito Spini (Milan 1923 – Chiuduno 2017) and Sandro Spini (Bergamo 1950 – 2005) in Mali between the 1970s and 1980s, a crucial period for the development of ethnographic and visual studies on West Africa.<\/p>\n

The collection, preserved in the Photography Section and donated to the CSAC in the late 1970s by Sandro Spini, includes sixty-one prints documenting the travels of the two photographer-anthropologists, both trained architects, among the Bozo and Dogon peoples. Alongside the photographic works, a large collection of documentary material is on display: correspondence, invitations, press proofs, reviews and critical articles dedicated to their work; a heritage that allows us to completely reconstruct the context of the research and the working methods of the two authors.<\/p>\n

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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 \u201cfield ethnography\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Sguardi sull\u2019Africa: le fotografie di Tito e Sandro Spini nelle collezioni CSAC<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>
\ncurated by Alessandra Acocella and Alessandro Ferraro
\n21 February – 26 April 2026<\/strong>
\nCSAC Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione dell\u2019Universit\u00e0 di Parma<\/strong>
\nAbbazia di Valserena<\/strong>
\nStrada Viazza di Paradigna 1, 43122 Parma<\/strong><\/p>\n

Museum opening hours<\/strong>
\nFriday 9:00 a.m. \u2013 3:00 p.m.
\nSaturday and Sunday 10:00 a.m. \u2013 7:00 p.m.<\/p>\n

Admission<\/strong>
\nFull price ticket: \u20ac10.00
\nFor information and discounts: https:\/\/www.csacparma.it\/visita\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Information and bookings<\/strong>
\nCSAC – Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione dell\u2019Universit\u00e0 di Parma\u00a0csac@unipr.it<\/a>
\nservizimuseali@csacunipr.it<\/a>
\n+ 39 0521 903500<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

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