AD5803 - Shooting the Italian community in Nottingham
- Noemi Filetti
- 30 mar 2019
- Tempo di lettura: 2 min
When I went to Derby Festival, I had the chance to meet the Italian photographer Mariano Doronzo who told me about the strong Italian community in Nottingham and, in particular, about the interesting story of the people from the village of Accettura who started moving in Nottingham from the end of the '50.
Unfortunately, he did not have any contact with the people from Accettura, so I started researching and finding contacts.
There was not a lot online, the only news was this article from the BBC in which the explain the link between the Italian village and the city of Nottingham: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/nottingham/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9135000/9135199.stm
I contacted the woman mentioned in the article, but I did not receive any reply, so I went looking for some Facebook groups of Italians in Nottingham. I wrote a post on the main group explaining my project and the response has been just incredible.
So I started making contact with people and organise my trip for the following week (Monday to Wednesday).
This was my schedule.
People to meet on Monday:
Ivan, an Italian novel writer
Chantal, an aerospace engineer teaching in the Nottingham University
People to meet on Tuesday:
Anna, an Italian woman born in Nottingham from Accettura descendants. My direct contact with the Accettura community.
Vito and Anna, Anna's uncle and aunt. From the second generation of migrants from Accettura
Giacinto, owner of a restaurant and grocery shop that has been a landmark for the Italian community for over 50 years.
My experience in Nottingham has been extremely positive. I would have never expected to meet people in their 80s who still speak in dialect and still live in an absolute Italian lifestyle after more than sixty years in Nottingham.
I am generally happy with the pictures that I have taken, the only problem has been that in different occasions I really did not have enough time. In particular I am disappointed with Chantal's portrait and I wish I could spend more time with the elder couple. They had many pictures from their village and from their wedding as well and I could have asked them to hold one of the pictures when I took their portrait, but I did not had this idea at that time.
The story of the people from Accettura could potentially develop into a series itself and I will definitely keep the contacts and consider this idea for future projects.
Here there are some contact sheets with selected pictures from my experience in Nottingham.
Ivan
Chantal
I really wish I could have more time to take her portrait. I have got a great interview and then I literally had five minutes for the pictures. I could have got much better shots just getting closer and asking her to hold the satellite with both hands or I could have also taken a wider shot including more of her studio and not having her looking at me. I feel like I have "The Guardian's style" headshots and not documentary style pictures.
Anna
Accetura's stone in the Arboretum Park:
Anna and Vito with their son Giuliano
Giacinto
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