Sagacity

The act of seeing plays a significant role in Sagacity, Ventura’s main body of work, which he began in 1975 and continued until his death in 2020. The full title is Sagacity, Sunstar and Salamandra, an inscription identifying three horses: father, mother and son, which was engraved on a brass plate that Ventura discovered by chance in a typographer’s shop window. Writing about it, Ventura said, “It was the perfect title for me, a bit in the line of ‘objet trouvé’ poetry.” There was a second event that led to this project: a spy film on TV, also seen by chance, where the protagonist is betrayed by his boss, abandoned by his comrades, and so begins a personal search for the truth. The tension in the film is an important and positive element that encourages greater concentration and understanding. Sagacity is a piece of work that has grown and lived alongside the photographer: the reader now gets to discover and appreciate it, posthumously – also as a book, which was published by The Ice Plant in 2021.

Fulvio Ventura: Sagacity
Edited by Giulia Zorzi und designed by Jason Fulford
64 pages, 33 black and white images, 26 x 18 cm, English
The Ice Plant, 2021, courtesy Micamera, Milan

A detailed portfolio can be found in the LFI magazine issue 8/2022.