Via Elio Bernardi, 6

Ritratti alla luce di un fiammifero (2021)

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Human faces are unrepeatable monuments that contain stories, experiences, emotions, fears, loves, sorrows and joys. Nino Migliori photographed 596 faces of women and men, in the light of a match. They are friends, or friends of friends, who have visited him from 2016 to 2021 in his studio in via Elio Bernardi, 6 in Bologna.

Federica Muzzarelli (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

In this work, the gestural element is once again highlighted. Time is marked by the burning of the wooden stick while the matter is represented by the face reflecting the light.

Elisabetta Sgarbi (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

They are portraits of human interiority manifested through light and shadow, black and white.

Lin Liu (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

The lit match, which Nino holds in his hand and moves at different speeds around the subject's face as he photographs him, becomes the only reference to the outside world, to the passing of time.

Interview (July 2021) by Alessandro AmanteFondazione Nino Migliori

With the light of the match, he seems to reach the origins of the perceptive act of aesthetics. In his search for the image in the dark, there is a return to the generative principle of art, to when the cavemen of the Upper Palaeolithic drew and engraved in stone the shapes of nature. By the light of lanterns, they moved the shadows of rocks inside the caves, animating the space and the images, in an act of transgression, as Georges Bataille wrote, full of wonder and amazement.

Nino Migliori, Nino Migliori, July 2021, From the collection of: Fondazione Nino Migliori
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Alessandra D'Innocenzo (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Alessandra D'Innocenzo

In the dark with the flame, he searches for the slightest emotional nuances in the subject's face, in order to capture them in the photograph. Migliori's portraits are portraits of inwardness, which manifest themselves through light and shadow, through black and white.

Alessandro Bergonzoni (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Alessandro Bergonzoni

When he finishes the portrait, there is a moment of suspension that lasts few seconds which precedes the artificial light that fills the room. In that brief moment of waiting in the dark, we feel suspended, leaving the dimension of a magical ritual to return to one's own time.

Alessandro Fini Zarri (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Alessandro Fini Zarri

Next to the chair where subjects pose, there is a large plate with hundreds of consumed matches, those used by Migliori over the years to capture these portraits.
The whole of them creates a single face that contains all the previous ones. A final portrait, which reveals the memory of the many suspensions collected by Migliori over the years, through the light and the material of things.

Ascanio Kurkumelis

Barbara Cuniberti (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Barbara Cuniberti

Daniela Depietri (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Daniela Depietri

Giovanni Gastel (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Giovanni Gastel

Jacopo Benassi (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Jacopo Benassi

Leonida Fini Zarri (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Leonida Fini Zarri

Lin Liu (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Lin Liu

Marco Antonio Bazzocchi (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Marco Antonio Bazzocchi

Maria Sole Confortini (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Maria Sole Confortini

Mario Cucinella (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Mario Cucinella

Martina Fini Zarri (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Martina Fini Zarri

Massimo Minini (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Massimo Minini

Maurizio Marinelli (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Maurizio Marinelli

Nicola Bedogni (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Nicola Bedogni

Nicola Martelli (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Nicola Martelli

Philip Rylands (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Philip Rylands

Pio Tarantini (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Pio Tarantini

Elisabetta Sgarbi (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Elisabetta Sgarbi

Enrica Viganò (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Enrica Viganò

Federica Muzzarelli (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Federica Muzzarelli

Francesca Buscaroli (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Francesca Buscaroli

Joe Oppedisano (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Joe Oppedisano

Laura Leonelli (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Laura Leonelli

Lucia Miodini (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Lucia Miodini

Luisa Valentini (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Luisa Valentini

Marta Santacatterina (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Marta Santacatterina

Nina Truant (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Nina Truant

Paola Giovetti (July 2021) by Nino MiglioriFondazione Nino Migliori

Paola Giovetti

Credits: Story

Exhibition
Nino Migliori
Via Elio Bernardi, 6
Museo Civico Archeologico Bologna
1-31 luglio 2021

General Coordinator
Alessandra D’Innocenzo

Promoted by
do ut do
Fondazione Nino Migliori

In Partnership with
Museo Civico Archeologico Bologna
Cineteca Bologna

The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue published by Immedia Editrice, Arezzo
Texts: Elisabetta Sgarbi, Eugenio Lio, Ascanio Kurkumelis, Domenico De Masi, Gianluca Riccio
Editorial coordinator: Roberto Rossi
Image optimization: Antonella Minzoni
Printed by: Opigraf, San Giustino (PG)

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.

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