World Italy Award 2019 | Mariano Silletti – ENG
Serra Maggiore is one of the rural villages built following the Agrarian Reform of the 1950s in the countryside of Montescaglioso, in Basilicata, in southern Italy.
The purpose of the reform was to create a class of economically self-sufficient landowners, but it soon failed. The area was also affected by massive emigration. Of the 100 families that lived in the village in the 50s, today, there are only about 6 left.
The photographer has documented the daily life of women and men who have decided to preserve, in part, the habits and traditions of their parents, living in harmony with nature to maintain the fragile beauty of the territory through the practice of traditional agriculture.
Serra Maggiore is a space – most likely doomed to disappear – on a human and natural scale. It is a parallel universe to be discovered and rediscovered in order to have a new and wider point of view from our modernity.
Photo copyright: © Mariano Silletti
Born in Pisticci, Italy in 1972.
Mariano Silletti is an Italian photographer active both in documentary and in the storytelling world. He lives and works in Matera (South Italy). He realizes long-term projects with a focus on exploring the human condition within the every day and ordinary urban environment. In his personal work he often looks into his homeland, discovering and capturing the remote worlds and people who inhabit them.
Silletti has been a winner of various competitions. He is a recipient of the World Report Award for Short Story, the Moscow International Photo Award, the Italy Photo Series, and the Leica Talent Italy.
His work has been shown in various international solo and group exhibitions, including the Festival della Fotografia Etica (2015), the Off Circuit Cortona On The Move (2016), Brussels Street Photography Festival (2018), Miami Street Photography Festival (2018), and has appeared in such publications as Burn Magazine, Gup Magazine and many others.
He self-published his “Ludovicu” series in 2015.
He is a member of InQuadra, a collective promoting contemporary photography in Italy.