ROLLA FOUNDATION, BRUZELLA

The passion for photography grows year by year and so does the archive of the collection. Philip Rolla is interested in the image that portrays the object as it is, without forcing it, but with a special view point capable of returning a deep emotional response to it. This is the lesson he learned from reading John Szarkowski’s The Photographer’s Eye, and it applies to all the subjects he loves: architecture, factories, objects, plants.

Since 2010, this legacy has been made available to those interested. Rosella and Philip Rolla reached an agreement with the Municipality of Bruzella (now Breggia) for the use of the former kindergarten. Here they systematically offer thematic exhibitions. By a single author, collective or in the form of a dialogue between two, each exhibition is accompanied by a small and valuable catalogue. The first appointment was with the Czech photographer Josef Sudek. The title of the exhibition: Cacciatore di magia. Volume cover in yellow. Introductory text signed by the Ticino poet Alberto Nessi.

To understand the relevance of the whole offer, one only has to scroll through the list of exhibitions (see site...). The artists who appear in them are often very famous, as in the case of Edward Weston, or in the very special case of Lawrence Carroll, for the first time in the role of photographer. However, the exceptional nature of this undertaking lies above all in the setting of each exhibition: from the choice of theme to the layout and catalog. It is the attention to detail that is the true hallmark of Rosella and Philip Rolla’s work. And it is surprising that all this happens in a place as far away from urban centers as a small town in the Muggio Valley.