by InTrieste
On Friday, October 24, the Civico Museo d’Arte Orientale will open “India. Due sguardi, un racconto” (“India: Two Perspectives, One Story”), a photography exhibition presented as part of the Trieste Photo Days festival. The show pairs the work of Adriano Perini, whose photographs are preserved in the Fototeca of the Civici Musei di Storia ed Arte, with images by Sandro Antoniolli, highlighting contrasting yet complementary approaches to depicting India.
Curated by Claudia Colecchia, head of the Fototeca, in collaboration with Francesca Avignone, curator of the Museo d’Arte Orientale, the exhibition presents a visual dialogue between two Western perspectives engaging with Indian culture, architecture, and daily life.
Perini, a seasoned traveler and former president of the association Photo-Imago, focuses on architecture and spatial composition, often in the Rajasthan region. His photographs feature human figures subtly integrated into the environment, with a particular emphasis on light, structure, and formal balance. Printed in medium format using traditional chemical techniques, his images convey a contemplative, almost metaphysical sense of time and space.
In contrast, Antoniolli’s photographs offer an immersive, relational view of India. Capturing bustling markets, human gestures, animals, and the everyday vibrancy of lived spaces, his work emphasizes the interaction between people and their surroundings. The narrative quality of his images reflects a close engagement with his subjects, blending observation with personal interpretation.
Rather than presenting a stylistic opposition, the two bodies of work complement one another: Perini emphasizes India as a space for reflection, while Antoniolli presents it as a place of movement and experience. Together, their images provide a nuanced and layered representation of the country, avoiding exoticization and offering a respectful perspective on cultural and visual diversity.
The exhibition, free of charge, will remain on view through November 26 and is open Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Contact Information:
museoarteorientale@comune.trieste.it
cmsafototeca@comune.trieste.it
Tel: +39 040 3220736 / +39 040 6754039
