Sicily (Italy) - History, Italian History - Social Aspects, Organized Crime

Passion, Justice, Freedom

Name: Passion, Justice, Freedom
Author: Alexander Stille... [et al.]
ISBN: 9780893818050

by Alexander Stille... [et al.]

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Overview

Essays by Alexander Stille, Renate Siebert, Simona Mafei, Melissa Harris, and others.

One woman's passionate battle for justice.

Letizia Battaglia's story, her vision of Sicily, and her fight for justice against the Mafia as revealed in this biographical monograph is as stunning as it is heroic. This W. Eugene Smith Award-winning photographer demonstrates photography's power to serve as both a weapon and a voice for the silent majority.

After years of fighting for the life of her troubled city of Palermo-as a photographer, deputy councilwoman, ecological activist, defender of women's rights, and defender of human rights-Battaglia continues the battle with the fierce passion, intelligence, and vision for which she is known.

Letizia Battaglia: Passion, Justice, Freedom juxtaposes iconic pictures of the everyday joy, suffering, and vitality of the Palermitani with images showing the effects of the Mafia predators who have controlled much of the city for so long.

Along with an intimate profile of the photographer by Melissa Harris, Alexander Stille chronicles Battaglia's fight against the Mafia, putting her photographs in the context of Palermo in the 1980s and '90s. Renate Siebert addresses the heretofore unexplored role of women and the Mafia in her essay. Magazine editor Simona Mafei contributes an essay about her work with Battaglia.

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Editorials

Library Journal

Aperture brings to the fore the captivating and politically charged photographs of Sicilian photographer Battaglia. For the last 30 years, Battaglia has documented the many pains and relatively few triumphs of her native Palermo, a city that was, until recently, clenched in the fists of the Cosa Nostra. She covered Mafia killings and suicides, the poverty of the Palermitani, and, most importantly, the maxi trials of the early 1990s, during which prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino were assassinated. "I took pictures of everything," Battaglia is quoted as saying. "Suddenly I had an archive of blood." In 1993, police raided Battaglia's studio to uncover any evidence that would link former prime minister Giulio Andreotti to the Mafia. Sure enough, the authorities found a photo that Battaglia didn't realize she had taken of Andreotti with known crime boss Nino Salvo; the trial is expected to end this year. Contributors such as Stille (Excellent Cadavers), Renate Siebert (Secrets of Life and Death: Women and the Mafia), and Palermo mayor Leoluca Orlando offer enlightening background on the maxi trials, recent Sicilian history, and Battaglia herself. For most collections.--Mark Rotella, Brooklyn Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.