The work of Olivo Barbieri revolves around the analysis – and questioning – of the very notion of perception, of the capacity to observe and interpret reality.
Barbieri arrived at this mature definition of his expressive language in the 1990s when he began to use aerial images presented in “selective focus” that highlights particular elements and deliberately blurs others.
Stretto, Ganzirri belongs to the series realised by Barbieri along the Strait of Messina for "atlante italiano 003" for which the MAXXI invited thirty photographers to record the changes, processes of transformation and new aesthetic of the Italian landscape.
Barbieri offers a disorienting image of sites that resemble scale models more than real contexts.