Cross-Looking. A Visual Investigation on the Legacy of My Ancestors Valeri and Lekegian

My desire to conduct in-depth research into the life and work of my great-great-grandfather Salvatore Valeri dates back to my years as a student, between the end of my classical education in high school, and the beginning of university. This desire stemmed from my passion for images and visual language, but predated my career as a photographer. I grew up looking at the paintings in our house in Faenza, Emilia-Romagna: olive-skinned faces, often adorned with strange headgears, bare feet on uneven cobblestones, figures crouching on the ground or silhouetted against the crumbling walls of decrepit architecture, the inner courtyard of a mosque, all symbols of an elsewhere that was unknown to me, immersed as I was in the ordinary life of provincial Italy. I did not fully understand that those paintings (and soon after, those photographs) were the bridge to the history not only of my ancestor Salvatore, but to the entire connection between the Valeri and Lekegian families.