Fotografia Femmnista Italiana. A research project and a digital collection

Fundamentally, the reflection was extended to practices which, while situated outside explicitly militant positions, nevertheless contributed to highlighting specific policies in the construction of the female imagination and different strategies of self-assertion. With the aim of studying and enhancing the presence and role of women photographers in Italy, and of emphasising the effective circulation of their work, the research was conducted through the investigation of three distinct channels, through which both explicit and militant forms of feminism, as well as implicit and/or anticipatory ones, may be historically framed. Through this methodological approach and theoretical framework, the Italian Feminist Photography (IFP) Project sets out, for the first time in an organic and systematic way, to reconstruct women’s feminist contributions to the history of Italian photography. This reconstruction begins with the study of cultural policies implemented by public and private institutions, continues with the analysis of the public circulation of photographic images in specialised magazines and periodicals, and includes the examination of the critical reception of these works through essays published in exhibition and collection catalogues. To pursue these objectives, the three research units involved in the project adopted a shared chronological framework ranging from nineteenth-century photographic experiences to developments of the 1980s. Within this temporal scope, the research was conducted primarily in Italian archives, museums, and collections that have preserved and promoted women’s photography.