Francesco Neri: Trophy and Treasure

The combination of documentary and poetry

Francesco Neri, born in Faenza in northern Italy in 1982, opens a personal family album, a treasure chest filled with images that reflect life, its quiet and special, even magical moments and the passing of generations, as well as the photographer's questions to his medium. When he moved into his deceased grandparents' flat in 2008, he encountered familiar rooms and objects, which he captured in photographic interiors and still lifes. They seemed to recapitulate the past, the passage of time, to transform it and to be under the spell of the question of how one's own personal perception has developed or continues to change. His grandfather was a doctor by profession and, as was customary in the region, hunted in his spare time - as did his father. In this respect, medicine and hunting have had a direct or indirect impact on Francesco Neri's profession as a photographer. The parallel between photography and hunting has often been formulated. Photography has long since made a name for itself as a recognised instrument for the observation and documentation of found facts and provides essential prerequisites for the analytical observation of what is depicted in a diagnostic context. Francesco Neri utilises these dimensions by combining the documentary with the poetic in a highly versatile way in the effect of his photographs taken with a large-format camera.

Exhibition:
The Photographic Collection/SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne, 1/9/2017 - 28/1/2018