Giovanna Silva: Napoli

An anthropological and costume study, a photographic research on urban architectures, and an artistic reflection on a historical event converge in the book Giovanna Silva has created for the Madre Museum. Silva moves within all these diverse realms, and the result is greater than the sum of its constituent parts. With a deep understanding of Neapolitan urban planning and its historical context, the artist tirelessly traversed the city, portraying it with a composed approach that is less inclined to celebrate excess or isolated incidents. What Silva chose to showcase primarily revolves around the concept of accumulation: the quantity of enthusiastic decorative forms that have transformed the chromatic landscape of Naples as a whole, the horror vacui. Her shots, taken during the most vibrant, intense celebration days, do not soften the present and future of the depicted locations, nor do they domesticate them into stereotypes.