Isole Nere. Fotografien von Luana Rigolli

In the organizer's words:

The Italian Cultural Institute Cologne is participating in the International Photoszene Cologne Festival, which takes place from May 16 to June 15, 2025, with the exhibition Isole Nere(Black Islands) by Luana Rigolli, which will be on display at the IIC from May 15 to October 2, 2025.

The exhibition features a selection of photographs taken by the artist in 2017 on various Italian volcanic islands. The pictures show landscapes and details of Capraia, Ischia, Linosa, Lipari, Panarea, Pantelleria, Ponza, Procida, Salina, Stromboli, Ustica and Ventotene.

Opening hours:

May 15 - October2 , 2025
Mon.-Thurs. 9.00-13.00 / 13.30-17.00
Fri. 9.00-14.00

Opening: Wednesday, May 14 19.00. In the presence of the artist.
With Italian aperitif.
Free admission

Volcanic islands are solidified lava.
I imagine that under each island there is a channel that leads directly into the earth's mantle, the layer of our planet that consists of more or less solid magma, and that all these channels form a kind of root network that connects the islands to each other, even if they are hundreds of kilometers apart.
I think that volcanic islands are also inverted comet stars, bodies that have broken away from the center of the Earth with their trail of molten magma and landed in the middle of the sea.
Perhaps they are so similar because they are made of the same matter and carry the same energy and the same dreams...
It is said that volcanoes have a magnetic effect.
The rocks that form volcanic structures contain a large amount of magnetic minerals that can generate such strong fields that the functioning of compasses is affected.
There are people who are sensitive to different degrees... I think I am very sensitive to the magnetism of these volcanic rocks.
I have photographed several Italian volcanic islands, and on all of them I have found the same colors, the same vegetation, the same animals and the same people, which creates a pleasant confusion in my mind.
When I'm on an island, I often forget which one I'm on, I get confused, I think I'm on another island at the same time, in a constant game of déjà-vu and cross-references.

Luana Rigolli was born in Piacenza in 1983 and now lives in Rome. She has a degree in civil engineering, but after a few years in the profession, she decided to use photography to tell the story of her surroundings rather than altering the landscape with more technical work. Her photographic research deals with historical analysis and interactions between people and landscape. In 2017 she studied photojournalism at the Fondazione Studio Marangoni in Florence in the Collettivo Terraproject. From 2013 to 2018 she worked as a freelancer in various photo studios. She has been a freelance photographer since 2018. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Italy and abroad. She has published in various magazines such as National Geographic, Mare, La Ricerca, Il Post, Gestalten, Il Manifesto, La Repubblica and in T Magazine of the New York Times.