People of Lentini. 1972-1980

The portraits in this book were made by Franco Lanteri in Lentini, a town located in south-east Sicily. He was part of a generation of photographers in 1950s Italy that learned by doing. Lanteri’s job in this provincial town covered a range of social ceremonies, such as weddings, birthdays, and baptisms, but also ID photos. Here the averted gazes of the nameless subjects, their almost three-quarters poses, and use of lights and black-and-white film are aspects that seem entirely contrary to today’s canons of photography for identification documents. Compiled as large-format reproductions, they reflect a narrative approach, or perhaps one more befitting to an anthropological investigation.