Manik Katyal on Nicolo Degiorgis “Hidden Islam”

Nicolò Degiorgis is an Italian visual artist, publisher, photographer, and curator. He runs Rorhof, an independent publishing house in Bolzano, Italy. He has self-published a number of books, including Hidden Islam.

Italy –

Winner of Author Book Award 2014 at the Rencontres d’Arles, self-published book ‘Hidden Islam’ by Fabrica graduate, Photography feature – Nicolo Degiorgis, is a strong anthropological documentation of Islam in Italy.

Touching upon the sensitive issue of Islamophobia in Western Europe, ‘Hidden Islam’ is a five year long project, made between 2009-13, which decodes the ground reality of Italy’s right to worship freely. With an estimated population of over 1.35 Muslim practitioners, shockingly enough, Italy has total number of 8 mosques which leads to proliferation of makeshift places of Islamic worship. Social and political pressure from right-wing party, Lega Nord has shown a large minority being forced to pray in; Warehouse, Shop, Supermarket, Apartment, Stadium, Gym, Garage and Disco.

Hidden_Islam_03

 

“In Italy the right to worship, without discrimination, is enshrined within the constitution. There are 1.35 million Muslims in Italy and yet, officially, only eight mosques in the whole country,” Martin Parr wrote in introduction to Nicolo Degiorgis’s Hidden Islam.

With a map of North East Italy on the cover of the book, titled Hidden Islam « Islamic makeshift places of worship in North East Italy, 2009-2013, is made out of 45 gatefolds showcasing a very interesting and clever contrast between the black and white buildings used for worshipping, with the unfolded intimate colour images of muslims performing ‘Salat’ (offering prayers ) on Fridays.

 

Related Posts

Sanne De Wilde: The Dwarf Empire

China – 小人国 在中国云南、在昆明美丽的滇池湖边、在一片原始森林里,有一个由上百矮人族群组成的梦幻国度—它就是世界蝴蝶生态园·“小人国”。这里的小矮人们勤劳、善良、多才多艺、英勇无畏。他们拥有自己的国度,拥有自己的国王、自己的军队、外交部、御膳厨房和臣民 “In the Chinese province Yunnan, close to the beautiful Dianchi lake, exists a magic land in …

Ken Schles Invisible City

Ken Schles: “Invisible City” – Portrait of 1980’s Downtown New York

USA –  New York has always been the city of ultimate extremes, extremes in terms of social classes, races, wealth, …

Bad dreams ? – Carlos Ayesta & Guillaume Bression

Japan –  Facing an imperceptible threat, Japan had no choice but to sort out contaminated territories and objects from those …

Emma Phillips: SALT

Australia – Young Melbourne photographer Emma Phillips’ new body of landscape images is so striking in its minimalist visage that …

Establishment Earthquaker : Shahidul Alam

Bangladesh –  Emaho got into a free-wheeling tête-à-tête with the legendary award-winning Bangladeshi photographer, Shahidul Alam to pry beyond his …

Andrea Botto: “19.06_26.08.1945”

Italy –  “This book was produced in memory of the return journey my grandfather made from the Nazi prisoner-of-war camps …

Jordi Ruiz Cirera Los Menonos

Jordi Ruiz Cirera: Los Menonos

 Bolivia –  Comprising of images taken between 2010 and 2011 in the Mennonite colonies of Santa Cruz, in Eastern Bolivia, Los Menonos …

Colombian Gangsta and other stories – Kosuke Okahara

Japan –  In an attempt to find new ways of communicating a story, Kosuke has recently produced the first issue …

Manik Katyal on Ying Ang “Gold Coast”

Australia –  “I was introduced to Photography feature – Ying‘s work in 2012 at an informal talk at Angkor Photo …