In Naples, a child’s First Communion is not only a religious sacrament, but it is experienced as a real rite of passage in the life of a young person, to be celebrated with an important feast that can last several days.
In recent years, there has been a change of trend whereby the Communions often become more important than marriages, especially when parents have had children before the wedding and postpone the feast of their dreams for the Communion of their firstborn, a moment experienced as an entrance into society. In particular, girls are dressed and treated like young brides, with elaborate and expensive dresses, made in the best ateliers in the city.
In this project Diana follows the daughters of the famous ceremony photographer, Oreste Pipolo (the one Scianna called “the shaman of marriages”). His daughters, Ivana and Miriam, inherited their father’s studio and like him, they sell a dream, building elaborate photo sets before, after and during the day of the First Communion.
