SCATTA QUALCOSA 2017

Photography classes by Melina Mulas

A continuation of the photography project SCATTA QUALCOSA by Melina Mulas, aimed at local high school students.

After last year’s exciting experience inspired by colour and some of the city’s most representative places, the 2017 edition will highlight Mantua’s important culinary tradition.

Alongside the EAT MANTUA project, which draws food, dining and the actions involved in its preparation to the centre of a wider social ritual, SCATTA QUALCOSA looks in the same direction, investigating the identity, history, tradition and values of the Mantuan area and representing the food and wine industry through photographs.

Melina Mulas will ask participants to consider two aspects of food and eating: one concerning the places where the raw materials originate and are cultivated and processed (from large and small farms to cellars and vineyards, dairies, orchards etc. …); the other a selection of typical Mantuan dishes, adapted and reinterpreted in a contemporary key, and photographed so that the image consists of a circle with the dish inside (close up of the dish shot from above as if it were a mantra); the square format photograph will be accompanied by the recipe provided by the students with the help of their grandmothers, mothers or other figures who have been influential in their relationship with nutrition and food.

Over the centuries Mantuan cuisine has made history and is one of the most appreciated forms of its artistic creativity. With help from local students, the Centro Internazionale d’Arte e di Cultura di Palazzo Te aims to document the relationship between Mantua and its culinary tradition. Taking an environmental and documentary approach to the photographs, focus will be on the places of production which, along with photos of a selection of dishes, will create a unique illustrated book of recipes.