A Sisterhood.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Jun 21

Between 2015 and 2018, photographer Valeria Luongo captured the everyday life of a group of nuns living in a Convent in Rome.

Photography and Text Valeria Luongo

As a photographer and anthropologist I have always been interested in stories of people who live “radical” lives, those who decide to exist outside standard modes of living and make choices that influence their entire way of being. I wanted to see which kind of activities marked the daily life of a nun outside the prayer. The community who I documented for years is called Ravasco and takes this name from its founder. Once in the community, these women must learn how to live together, trying to understand and adapt to each other. Sometimes the age and cultural gap can be considerable; some are in their 80s and have spent the majority of their life in the community, others are really young and have just joined the Convent. It took me many years to create a relationship based on trust and to become familiar with the intricate details of their lives.

I photographed the relationship between them, with the aim that my photos could communicate their humanity, vulnerability and cohesion. My background in Anthropology shaped my approach to documentary photography. Using ethnographic fieldwork allows me to embed myself within a group of people, speaking “with” rather than speaking “for”. This is a technique that I have transferred to my photographic work so that the two complement each other.

For me the most important aspect is representation: Do the people I photograph feel represented by the images I've created?

“As a photographer and anthropologist I have always been interested in stories of people who live ‘radical’ lives.”

“Using ethnographic fieldwork allows me to embed myself within a group of people, speaking ‘with’ rather than speaking ‘for’.”

About Valeria

Valeria Luongo (born in Rome, 1989) is a London based documentary photographer and anthropologist whose work focuses on spiritual communities, women’s stories and the effects of globalisation in rural areas.

To see more Valeria’s work, please visit her website or follow her on Instagram

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A Sisterhood.

Between 2015 and 2018, photographer Valeria Luongo captured the everyday life of a group of nuns living in a Convent in Rome.

“As a photographer and anthropologist I have always been interested in stories of people who live ‘radical’ lives.”

“Using ethnographic fieldwork allows me to embed myself within a group of people, speaking ‘with’ rather than speaking ‘for’.”

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