Edinburgh Show Explores Post-War Italian Migration

The ‘Second Sight’ photography and video exhibition at the Stills Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland focuses on migration. Developed in partnership with the Italian Cultural Institute, ‘Second Sight’ is part of a three-year cycle of projects entitled ‘Image/Identity’. The show explores the transformation of the lives of people from rural Italy who, after 1940, emigrated to urban communities throughout Europe. Historical and contemporary photography, film screenings, online archives and events illuminate the nuances of cultural heritage, question cultural stereotypes, and build up an understanding of the plurality of experiences and identities that make up Scotland’s people today. The exhibition includes photographs by Frank Monaco and Robert Capa that capture moments of refuge, upheaval and separation in Italy during and after World War II, while works by Adrian Paci and Fausto Colavecchia, address the leap of faith made by labour-motivated migrants. Newly commissioned video works by Agapito Di Pilla, Valentina Bonizzi and Maria Thereza Alves filmed in Scotland, France and central Italy, explore how people sustain family and employment relationships in different countries for prolonged periods of time, offering insight into the complexity of people’s feelings towards the places they come from and return to. 
 ‘Second Sight’ also invites people to bring their historical and contemporary photographs to be scanned and uploaded onto a website to create the first image-based archive of migration to Scotland. The show runs until 21 July 2013.