Monica Lanzetta

Through a critical and transversal methodology, this research project aims to explore the Luciano Ferrara Photographic Archive for a visual and cultural reconstruction of a two-decade period (1975-1995) during which Naples became a stage—radical but not rooted—for tensions, art, and eros. The research places the dimension of the body at the center, seen as a territory of negotiation between gender identity, eroticism, and social performance, and, thanks to Ferrara’s militant and “meridional” gaze, restores the power of photography as a tool for political and anthropological investigation. The objective is to enhance the collection as a complex discursive device, capable of breaking Neapolitan iconographic stereotypes and re-articulating the national photographic canon.