LANTERNA "BEACH" Photography Exhibition

About the exhibition

Lanterna “Beach” is a long-term project (2015-2022) that documents a community of male bathers in a town in Southern Italy, where I was born and raised, before leaving my country. The work explores the relationship between this peculiar community and the nature of the Pier where they sunbathe and rendezvous from Summer to Winter.

Over the years, in a perpetual process that still goes on nowadays, they have organically adjusted and adapted this space to their needs. In fact, the Pier was originally designed and built, exclusively for port-related purposes such as protection for ships while anchored in the port and to host the Lanterna, a red headlight, which indicates the left side mouth of the port. Despite this space belongs to the port authorities and has always been a military restricted area, people have used it since ever, paradoxically reinventing this brutal unusable concrete infrastructure in an idyllic spot for relaxing and recreational activities hence the new name of "Lanterna Beach".

The space is predominantly attended by men. Some of them meet here to relax and forget about family responsibilities or social pressure, and others like to enjoy their breaks from the daily routine in the playfulness of the sunshine. A very important ritual, especially, for sun worshippers, as some of them plan their work schedule to coincide with cloudy or rainy forecasts so as to not miss a single sunny day.

Through portraits, tattoos and anatomical shapes a visual map is built to show my inner process of reconnecting with “home” which the bathers represent for me – every time I return to this very specific place – a metaphorical gate to reconcile with my original culture and therefore to rediscover, under a different positive new light, everything I left behind such as customs and traditions, local dialect expressions, childhood memories and a new sense of belonging to the place I escaped.

About Mariano

Mariano Doronzo (b.1986) is a photographer and published poet based in Nottingham.

He moved to England in 2013, where he started working with photography, documenting his personal journey within the local community and the English culture and landscape through the lens of an old film camera. He works mainly with black and white photography while also expanding his skills in the darkroom with handmade traditional prints.

In 2022, he also completed a long-term mentorship program at Magnum Photos with Matt Black and Susan Meiselas.

Currently, Mariano his working on his first photobook.

www.marianodoronzo.com