Between February 2nd and February 18th, 2024, the Galata Museo del Mare hosted my exhibition ‘The Invisible Diaspora – Re-thinking Photographic Portraiture of 21st Century Italian Migrants on the Arc Lémanique Area’ on recent Italian migration on the Arc Lémanique in Switzerland.

Contemporary historians have identified three major Italian migratory phases in Switzerland: the great diaspora of the late 19th century, the period between World War I and World War II, and the diaspora from the end of World War II until the 1970s.

However, according to the Office Federal de la Statistique of Switzerland, the Italians were still the largest group of migrants arriving in Switzerland in 2022. This exhibition is the product of an eight-year-long academic research process. Its goal is to prompt a discussion about the recent waves of Italian migrants to French-speaking Switzerland – especially those who reside between Geneva and Lausanne on the north shore of the Lac Léman – and about their portraiture through photography.

The images are intended as a new form of portraiture of the migratory experience. Printed on semi-transparent fabric, they are meant to recall an earlier type of image of Italian origin. The lighting system, the sharpness of the portraits, the inclusion of a landscape, and the use of perspective in a square frame – all of these devices refer to parameters that are characteristic of Italian Renaissance portraiture. Anchored to the ceiling and randomly placed in the center of the room, visitors to the exhibition walk among the photographs. The semi-transparent figures are meant to give visitors a visual experience of how anonymized and unrecognizable contemporary Italian migrants have become in Switzerland today. This is in stark contrast with their photographic portrayal during the 1960s and 1970s, when Italian migrants were represented as “othered”, often portrayed with suitcases, clothes, and behaviors that were different from those of the native Swiss population. Today Italian migrants have truly become a part of the local social fabric in Switzerland, to the point of quasi-invisibility.

This exhibition evokes the need for a new paradigm in the representation of a diaspora, a group phenomenon. While in the 1960s and 1970s, the Italian migration process to Switzerland was composed in most cases of large groups of people from the same towns and villages, the recent diaspora does not have this characteristic and is more individualistic. However, we are talking about a mass phenomenon that took place over time. The display of this exhibition aims to address both dimensions. As they enter the room, visitors see all the portraits at once, creating a strong visual and psychological impact. While the representation of these migrants as a group is important, so is the representation of each of them as an individual, which is why, on the floor under each image, visitors will find a QR code granting access to a fragment of an interview conducted with the migrant portrayed.