Novalis Art Design is delighted to present the exhibition ‘The Other Side of La Dolce Vita: Pier Paolo Pasolini with Tazio Secchiaroli in the locations of Accattone.

This exhibition is organised by the Italian Cultural Institute in Hong Kong under a series of programmes celebrating the 100th anniversary of Pier Paolo Pasolini and is part of the Italia Mia Festival.

In 1960, Pier Paolo Pasolini decided to make his first film depicting the urban underclass of Rome, as opposed to the glitz and glamour depicted in Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita. Together with Tazio Secchiaroli as photographer, they set out scouting the locations that will shape the film Accattone. The exhibition aims to bring together the two sides of Rome, showing the contradictions of a society that was heading towards an economic boom. Photographs by Tazio Secchiaroli, mostly unpublished, for inspections and filming are juxtaposed with his best-known photographs, those who made him famous as the first of the paparazzi, for the photographs stolen in Via Veneto.

Alone and with Pasolini he goes in search of the most suitable and descriptive glimpses of the Roman villages, creating a reportage of over 150 photographs that today are urban, architectural, and social evidence of Rome. Not simple photographs for locations, but an analytical reportage where the photographer’s gaze lingers on the population living on the street: children, women, a few men in empty and sunny streets. Shreds of walls, stories, lives. A sort of counterpoint to the glittering and glamorous life of Via Veneto, Cinecittà, of gossip, but seen by the same photographer who made the sweet Roman nightlife famous.

Gallery address: 197 Hollywood Road, Central