The exhibition “Simone Bramante, Fabriano. Volti dalle cartiere – Paper Mill Portraits”, curated by Umberto Giovannini and Beatrice Levorato, promoted by the Fedrigoni Fabriano Foundation in collaboration with FABRIANO.
A tale told through images of the faces, glances, gestures and memories of papermakers, cartare and those connected to the ancient places of paper, perhaps thanks to the stories of their parents or grandparents.
Photographer and storyteller Simone Bramante’s project – which can still be admired on the weekend of 19-20 November, with free admission – stems from an open call to the citizens of Fabriano entitled “Raccontami una storia” (Tell me a story), to collect and safeguard the precious testimonies linked to the work and workers of the Fabriano paper mill.
From the enthusiastic response of the inhabitants, Bramante identified 12 stories, iconographic narratives that under the care of Umberto Giovannini and Beatrice Levorato, a RUFA graduate in Visual Arts, unfold into one big thread, linking both the different stories and the city itself with the historical presence of the paper mill.
Telling the identity of the Fabriano area is at the heart of the artistic project that characterised Bramante’s Artist Residence.
The photographer, in fact, was a guest of the Foundation in June and was able to experience the evocative disused premises of the Historical Paper Mill Complex, normally not accessible and reopened for the occasion, such as the packaging department. It is precisely there that the artist wanted to set the sets of the photographs presented in this project, born from the desire to create a dialogue with Fabriano – conceived as a double meaning of city and paper mill – through the stories and faces of those who have always lived it.
At the centre, then, are the people of Fabriano, linked to the factory and its magical social interweavings.
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A web of acquaintances that Bramante has, almost unconsciously, unravelled until arriving at a common denominator, a single grand narrative whose every expressive possibility the photographer has sought to explore. His vision has generated a peculiar installation project developed also with the collaboration of architect Giuseppe Ricupero: at the moment, in fact, only the first part of the outcome of an artistic residency that saw both artists involved last summer is presented.
The initiative obtained the free patronage of the City of Fabriano, the Marche Region, the Pia Università dei Cartai, the CARIFAC Foundation, Passeggiando tra la storia and the Opificio della Rosa.
