Amore E Piombo (Years of Lead) - Brighton Biennial

This exhibition takes work from the photographic archive of Team Editorial Services, a photographic agency based in Rome. The selected images taken by the agency's photographers documented the extreme political situation in the late 1960s and 70s. I know nothing about this period of Italian history but the exhibition curated by Roger Hargreaves and Federica Chiocchetti proved very informative. Around the walls were old wooden bookcases. The framed images placed on the shelves showed gritty black and white scenes of street violence and extremism in the photojournalistic tradition. Mixed in with these were images of the popular celebrities of the time. The photographers were constantly shifting between these two worlds in their work for the agency.

Along one of the walls a large printed poster showed a collection of images showing the juxtaposition of violence, sex and entertainment. For me this brought to mind the Society of the Spectacle. The way in which the media mixes up and packages all sorts of images for consumption. The violence is reduced to the level of drama for consumption by the masses with light relief provided by film stars that take the edge off the more political shenanigans taking place behind the scenes.

  

In the centre of the room a collection of variously sized plinths held graphic images of death on the street. Bodies leaking blood from assassinations were framed and placed face up on the plinths. I felt like I was moving through a series of tombs towards a large monument that stood at the head of the room. This moment or memorial had a collection of colour images that referred to the assassination of Aldo Moro, the Italian president, who had been taken hostage by a political organisation. I think it was Gareth Dent that mentioned they reminded him of floral tributes placed against a memorial.

Behind the plinth and hidden away, were other images that hinted at subterfuge and secret political dealings. Overall the exhibition was curated in such a way that it felt to me that it raised questions about the nature of society and how much decision making and control is hidden away from the general populace. These questions are just as relevant today as they were back then.