On the occasion of the release of his new book Venice. Memories and Traces, Galleria13 offers a comprehensive and varied exhibition of the shots of Venice that Michael Kenna has collected over the years.
Kenna’s photographic technique is characterised by long exposure times, which can last up to several hours, revealing previously unseen details of the Venetian landscape. His lens captures a wide range of subjects: domes shrouded in fog, stars falling in the sky above bell towers, majestic palace porticos, gondola bows, bridges and statues, twisted poles emerging from the black lagoon and resembling ancient figures.
There are many shots at night, perhaps even more evocative, where from deep blacks Kenna brings out silvery lights from reflections on the water, street lamps become fatuous fires in the fog and invisible boats leave luminous trails in the Venetian canals.
Michael Kenna’s photography skilfully plays with light, shadows and reflections to show the poetic intensity of Venice.
From solo exhibitions in prestigious museums to retrospectives spanning continents, this evocative collection of Venetian images adds a new chapter to Kenna’s illustrious career. Testifying to his unparalleled ability to capture the timeless charm of Venice, the exhibition offers the visitor a unique and immersive experience through the lens of a great master.
An attraction that began many years ago
‘It is very difficult not to be seduced by this very special place that I have been visiting since the 1970s,’ says Kenna, “it is a place full of memories, of history; it is a floating city”.
‘When I first encountered Venice, I was probably half drunk,’ says the photographer, ‘I was a student and I was travelling around Europe with my backpack on my shoulders. When I arrived at the Santa Lucia station, I had no idea where I was going. Then I found a campsite on the Lido, pitched my tent and returned to Venice where I got completely lost and a storm broke out.’
By that time, young Kenna had sought shelter in the landing stage of a ferry and tried to fall asleep. Fortunately, he was then invited to spend the night on the floor of the living room of a resident who rescued him.
‘That generous gesture made me realise that Venetians are very hospitable’.
Michael Kenna tells us that ‘Venice can be seen as a symbol of the condition of the world; it is a very fragile, vulnerable, unique, beautiful place… a place that one day will no longer exist, just as we will no longer exist.’
Considering impermanence ‘allows us to understand how absolutely precious every second of our existence is. And of the earth’s existence, of Venice’s existence. How extraordinary life is and how extraordinary Venice is.’
Michael Kenna is one of the greatest landscape photographers of our time, among the few to shoot exclusively in analogue on film. Born in England in 1953, after having long dreamed of devoting himself to painting, he studied photography at the London College of Printing; at the end of the 1970s, he moved to San Francisco where he began working with Ruth Bernhard (1905-2006), a sensitive photographer of nudes and still lifes, whose assistant he became, gaining great experience in the darkroom. From the very beginning, Michael chose the landscape as the elective theme of his photographs, initiating a tireless reconnaissance of the infinite secret faces of the planet, and reaching all continents; the results of these journeys and stays, determined by commissions or personal choices, have been published in monographs and exhibition catalogues dedicated to him.
Michael Kenna
Venice
February 22 – March 29, 2025
Galleria13
Via Roma 34/b
Reggio Emilia, Italia, IT
https://galleria13.com
© Michael Kenna: Venice
© Michael Kenna: Venice
© Michael Kenna: Venice
© Michael Kenna: Venice
© Michael Kenna: Venice
© Michael Kenna: Venice
