The Donata Pizzi Collection narrates the conceptual, aesthetic and technological evolutions that photography witnessed in Italy over the past fifty years. Donata Pizzi, a photographer herself, graduated in Milan, then pursued her studies at the John Cass School of Arts in London and at the West Surrey College of Art and Design in Farnham, United Kingdom. Hers is an open, travelling exhibit started in 2014, which stands out for including women artists only, and for featuring pictures from different decades and genres, from reportage to conceptual and experimental photography.
Do you feel like an atypical collector?
I have always worked in the world of photography, as an editor, archivist, and iconographic researcher. For years, I’ve represented a famous American agency before I started working as a freelance photographer. At some point, I felt the need to do something for Italian photography, which I knew first-hand to be little known, little studied, with no market. I thought that I could contribute by collecting a corpus of pictures that better sampled the originality and diversity of Italian photography, over a time span that also matches my life, from the ‘60s up to today. The works that I selected as essential had all been created by women photographers and artists, which has better defined my research area. My collection was not born as a feminist collection, as it has often been said and written, but it has turned into a resource to support and spread the work of women in the photography field.
Yours is a travelling collection by definition. Who are the protagonists of this journey?
My collection was showcased at the Fotografie Forum Frankfurt (FFF) from January to August 31, 2020, with the title Resistance & Sensibility. Collezione Donata Pizzi: Women Photographers from Italy. This is the first time it has been exhibited abroad: we accepted curator Celina Lunsford’s invitation because of her and the institution’s reputation. Out of the two hundred and seventy pictures featured in the collection, Celina Lunsford selected over one hundred pieces: for every exhibit, the curator is free to find new interpretations and to arrange the visiting path based on the available space.
All exhibitions abroad are coordinated by Alessandra Capodacqua from New York University Florence, who takes care of the collection’s international shows. At the moment, two additional exhibits have been confirmed in Europe: one from December to February at the GfHF in Berlin, curated by Katharina Mouratidi, and one from March to late April in Kaunas, Lituania, curated by Gintaras Česonis.
What cities has your collection already visited, and what will be next?
In Italy, the collection went on show at the Milan Triennale in 2016-2017 and at Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome in 2018, with the title L’Altro Sguardo, Fotografe Italiane 1965-2015, curated by Raffaella Perna. Silvia Camporesi, the artistic director of SIFEST in 2017, chose to name her selection Collezione Donata Pizzi, Il tutto è maggiore della somma delle parti.
Later on, in 2019, upon invitation from MACOF by Renato Corsini and Mario Trevisan, Alessandra Capodacqua selected 150 pieces for the exhibit Donne dietro l’obiettivo at Museo di Santa Giulia in Brescia.
What role have institutions played along this path?
Institutions are key because they can determine the public impact of the exhibition. It is not easy to find suitable places for exhibits, even though the powerful, original contents of the collection have always guaranteed the success of our exhibitions. However, I have always believed that a synergy between public and private players is necessary and helpful.
Privates like me are obviously freer to move easily between auctions, other collections and authors, but a public institution would have a different impact on study and research. It would be beneficial for Italian museums to have contemporary art sections that included photography. Why is photography only relegated to photography-only spaces? My real goal as a photographer and collector is to give photography the space it fully deserves in museums. We will get there.
Your collection starts with Lisetta Carmi’s pictures from 1965, taken from her legendary reportage on cross-dressers in Genoa. Will it have an end?
The collection gathers photos from different decades and genres, from reportage to the most advanced conceptual and experimental photography. I keep unearthing treasures among historical works, and still wonder at the new trends. I do not know when, or if, my collection will ever end.
Maybe I should rather think about what future I could give to all these works: a foundation that could ensure their protection? An auction to scatter them around? A future abroad?
