THE PATHS OF THE SACRED
Gestures and Rituals of Faith in Contemporary Photography

Mario Giacomelli, Lourdes, 1957
© Archivio Mario Giacomelli, Senigallia

Guided tour duration: 45 minutes

Curated by Micol Forti and Alessandra Mauro
In collaboration with Suleima Autore and Livia Ficoroni

In the year of the Jubilee of Hope 2025, an exhibition gathers the work of some of the greatest photographers: from Gianni Berengo Gardin to Antonio Biasiucci, from Giorgia Fiorio to Mimmo Jodice, Mario Giacomelli, Ferdinando Scianna and international artists such as Sebastião Salgado, Markéta Luskačová and Harun Farocki.
To undertake a pilgrimage means to leave one’s home and begin a journey toward another land—one that represents a destination, an achievement, and a place of arrival. A place not just for one, but for all, made not only of solid walls but also of faith and hope, of values and substance, of trust and a sense of belonging.

Narrating the experience of the sacred is one of the highest challenges that great photographers have never shied away from. Gestures and gazes, objects and rituals, dances and prayers, processions and encounters—all hold and preserve the daily meaning of spirituality, the mysterious concreteness of faith, captured in photographs that balance presence and absence, what is seen and what remains invisible.

Photography has often explored the many aspects that accompany these journeys of spirituality and devotion, the relationship with the land, with the surrounding space, probing the mystical meaning contained in a physical and religious experience—deep and total, archaic and ancestral, closely tied to the roots of history and memory.
At the same time, the photographers’ gaze has been able to grasp—through an anthropological, visionary, or poetic approach—the emotion and fatigue, the hope and courage of the intimate and daily relationship with the sacred, its places, and its testimonies.

The exhibition design will feature bold colors to enhance the black and white photographs, which will be accompanied by biographical texts and evocative stories.

With the support of Regione Emilia-Romagna.