Letizia Battaglia

Letizia Battaglia (Palermo, 1935 – 2022) was one of the best-known and most internationally influential Italian photographers. She began working as a photojournalist in the early 1970s for the Palermo daily L'Ora, using her images to document a Sicily marked by mafia violence but also by profound humanity.

Her photographs, direct and free of artifice, document scenes of crime reporting, everyday places and people, with particular attention to the faces of women and children. Battaglia always considered photography a tool of testimony and civic responsibility, capable of giving voice to those who often remain on the margins.

Over the course of her career she received numerous international awards, including the W. Eugene Smith Grant for humanistic photography and the Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography in New York, which established her as one of the most important figures in world photojournalism.

Her work has been exhibited at major international institutions and museums, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the International Center of Photography in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, as well as museums and exhibition spaces in Italy such as MAXXI in Rome. Her photographs are held in public and private collections around the world.

Alongside her photographic work, Letizia Battaglia was also active in the cultural and social life of her city, promoting editorial and artistic projects and engaging in public life. Her archive today stands as a fundamental testimony for those who study photography as a language of memory, commitment, and the telling of reality.