Religious pilgrims with white candles in hand lined up, eager to enter the church, and so did Federico Sutera. He was out in the streets of Dorsoduro on the morning of November 21st for La Festa della Madonna della Salute. On this holiday, tens of thousands of people travel to the sanctuary to light a candle as a prayer to the Madonna of Health. The holiday is one of the most important to local Venetians, and has been a tradition for hundreds of years. He had one goal in coming to the Salute – to capture the holiday through the lens of a camera.
The air had a crisp chill, the kind one can feel at the beginning of winter, but the sun was still shining. This is unusual for winter in Venice. On this holiday, the sky is typically covered in a blanket of thick, gray fog, but this year was totally different. People wearing large puffer coats, hats with pom poms on top and colorful scarves migrated towards the church with their loved ones. They held hands with their children, bought candles for each other, and smiled vibrantly. Sutera moved swiftly and elusively through the large crowd of people outside the church, keeping his eyes peeled for the right photograph.
One blink and you could miss him. Out of the corner of his eye, Sutera saw a gray-haired Italian man smoking a cigar approach a candle stand. He dashed over, pulled his camera out of his pocket and quickly spun the aperture knob between his thumb and pointer finger. This swift movement is a subtle sign of the years of work Sutera has put into his profession. Capturing candids from hidden places is what he focuses on.
“I find the people. They are what make good pictures,” Sutera said.
Bells ring out and incense burns as mass begins in the sanctuary. Police officers dressed in their traditional navy uniform and cap set up a long red rope down the center of the nave to keep people out of the way of the procession. Sutera stands right up against it with his camera ready. He sets it to a wide angle, flips open the screen and tilts the camera to where only he can see what is being captured. It takes him a couple minutes to find the right spot to stand to capture the perfect light. Luckily, the sun shines through an upper window on the southeast side of the church providing a beam of light to frame his subjects. He doesn’t take a burst of photos, but individual shots with adjustments to light, shutter speed, and angle in between each photo.
He is comfortable in this setting. He knows exactly what to do. He’s been doing this for years.
Federico Sutera is a photographer born and raised on the historic island of Venice, Italy. He started photography as a teenage hobby and found himself taking his film to be developed in his friend’s dark room after school. He fell in love with the art of developing, and as a result, wanted to better his photography skills.
Sutera graduated in 2003 from Ca’Foscari University in Venice with a degree in Tourism Economics because of the expectation that he would manage a hotel like his father. He worked at a restaurant in Lyon, France for two years, returned back to Venice, and left for Madrid, Spain where he managed a hotel, all with a camera strap sitting on his shoulder. Sutera took pictures as a hobby during these travels, but the more he practiced the more skills appeared.
In the beginning of his second year in Madrid, Sutera was approached by a friend who had noticed his passion for photography and told him to enroll in photography school. He took a deep breath, quit his job at the hotel, and decided that photography was what he would do with the rest of his life. From 2006 to 2007, Sutera studied documentary photography and photographic reporting at EFTI in Madrid. He was praised by his professors, getting much better results than he ever did in the school of economics.
Over and over, Venice called him home. With the skills he learned from running a restaurant and hotel, as well as what he learned about the craft of photography, Sutera decided to open X Frame Studio on Giudecca island in 2010.
After 12 years at home, Sutera felt conflicted on whether to move away from Venice or not, but the “acqua alta” or high water in November 2019 changed it all. The combination of high syzygy tide, high sea levels in the Mediterranean Sea and local winds caused the city to flood 189 centimeters on November 12th. There was a lot of damage and Sutera wanted to be home with those he loved. He felt like a part of the city and wanted to help it through his craft.
Postcards from Venice, Sutera’s current shop, is the result after Covid-19 ended.
“Ciao! Hi! Halo!” Sutera says with a big smile and bright eyes when he spots a customer walk through the open door.
His little shop is nestled in a narrow street between Salute Church and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. In a nook hidden behind a wooden shelf of photographs, Sutera’s desk sits. He peeks through a crack between two black and white photographs of the Grand Canal, sees the customer who just entered, and steps out into the shop.
“Who took these?” an American woman with a heavy Jersey accent asks.
This prompts Sutera’s pitch, where he explains that the black and white photographs displayed are his works dedicated to his city. The woman gasps, impressed that the artist is the one talking to her. Sutera is personal with her, answering all her questions and doing his best to speak with her in English.
Though small, the shop is not overcrowded, giving the customers room to browse. The exposed brick walls with wooden beams holding up the ceiling pair well aesthetically with the grayscale prints scattered around – some framed on the walls, some laying in a box for flipping through, some set up to face the window. These photographs are not the classic depictions of the city that involve a lot of colors and the most glorified scenes, they speak to something more.
“I will pay rent to share my stories in this place,” Sutera expressed.
It isn’t just about making a sale: having the shop is a way to show off his city through his passion for photography.
Now, you can also find Sutera in a new space called Ostello Fotografico, a photo gallery nearby Campo San Gregorio in Dorsoduro.
Sutera grew up in Venice. He has watched it change, but he also has watched the physical city stay the same as it has been for centuries despite this. He started a project called “Venice for Sale” in 2010 that is a collection of photos showing overtourism of the island. It has been published by different international magazines and editorials since 2016. On his website, Sutera says,
“As a Venetian citizen, I am concerned about my city’s destiny and I ask myself a lot of questions. With this photographic project, that I have titled “Venice for Sale,” I want to highlight the problems that mass tourism has caused to my city… Considering that even Venice’s most frequent visitors, those who return to the city quite often, can hardly recognize it, and that even everyone who loves and respects this city is pushed away from the tangible effects of mass tourism, what kind of future is waiting for Venice and its inhabitants?”
Sutera photographs because he feels as if he is called to tell stories of Venice, but he also has to think about what makes a profit. He opened a business that is sustainable in the economy Venice runs on – tourism. He sells his larger prints inside, but in the window sit postcards and magnets. By selling these items to tourists, he can persevere, and his true art endures.
“It is challenging for him to manage to still sell art. Most people come in because they just see the postcards or magnets,” said Elisa Checchia, a Ca’Foscari student who works part time in Sutera’s shop.
Tourism is what supports the economy of Venice, but it has also become a problem for the city. Around 20 million people visit each year, but the historic center is home to just50,000 residents. The population of the island continues to decrease; there were 50,000people in 2022 as opposed to 175,000 people in 1951. By 2030, some demographers predict there could be no more full-time residents.
According to Jonathan Keates, chairman of Venice in Peril, if the population falls below 40,000, Venice will not be a viable, living city any longer. This is because of an increased cost of living, higher cost of rent, lower quality of life in shops and restaurants, lack of space for the youth, and a lack of job opportunities.
It also becomes difficult to find work in any field outside of tourism. The locals who thrive are those who have jobs in the tourism industry, like Sutera. The food, the goods in shops, and even the bars are catered towards the tourists. For locals who are not working in places such as hotels, shops, galleries, and restaurants, there is no further opportunity for work.
Overtourism has severely impacted the city of Venice, and what Sutera chooses to capture in his photographs shows this. He finds the raw, natural aspects of what Venice is today.
“I’ve always felt pushed to photograph difficult situations. That was my thing. I understand that the more difficult the situation, the bigger the result will be,” Sutera said about going into the city to take pictures.
Sutera’s shop is filled with photographs in black and white. Venice is known for its beautiful colorful buildings and canals that highlight them, but he is highlighting something completely different about Venice. The city is beautiful in any color, and that is what he draws inspiration from.
“This black and white color scheme shows strength in a place surrounded by color,” Federico said.
The city is painted in black and white – or at least it feels like it on overcast days in Venice. The sky is coated in thick gray clouds, but the waves aren’t crashing anymore. The storm is over and a lone man ventures outside. Dressed in a black trench coat and a wide-brimmed hat, he walks with confidence with his hands in his pockets. This is his city. As he strides close to the water’s edge, the figure is reflected in a wide puddle of water that splashed up on the pavement earlier that morning.
On the other side of the puddle, a photographer crouches down, finding the right angle.
L’articolo Pictures Called Me Home proviene da ytali..
4uMagazine
