Photographic archives and visual framing of the social body. The case of Savignano sul Rubicone

Since 2001, the public administration of Savignano sul Rubicone has commissioned several portraiture campaigns to capture different cross-sections of the town’s residents. Initially conceived as a way to elevate local cultural offerings, in line with more general regeneration and social integration objectives, the “Censimenti” programme grew into what is now a unique case in the history of Italian photographic practice. Providing historical context of the ways portrait photography and archival practices have been drawn upon to visually frame the social body since the beginning of the 19th century, this essay discusses how modes of enunciation and operative approaches that arose in response to scientific, juridical, and social demands have gradually inflected aesthetic discourse. It then draws on community-specificity and public art theory to articulate an overview of the multiple campaigns shot in Savignano, on the basis of distinct categories that describe the nature of the interaction between the photographer and the communities framed. Lastly, it considers the “Censimenti” programme as a whole, arguing for the role of the photo archive of Savignano as both a storehouse and a catalyst for multidirectional engagement with community imagery and meaning-making