Sonia Lenzi, "Unlikely Monuments. Imagination and memory: catalogues, commissioners, dialogues"

In the second event of "Women with a Camera (and a Typewriter): The Editorial Work" – a new series of talks on women, photography and writing with a specific focus on editorial work – Sonia Lenzi will talk to us about “Unlikely Monuments”, a project structured across various phases and directions, which began with the series “Excerpt from the catalogue” in the city of Bologna and has evolved into “Public Art Commissions” and “In dialogues”. The theme are monuments, particularly those dedicated to well-known, unknown or forgotten women, and the possible ways in which they might be represented. The monuments dedicated to many of them are undoubtedly unlikely, as are the spaces in which the artist has placed them. Monuments, history, memory and desire take the form of a phototext in the ongoing series “Excerpt from the catalogue”: here, the book, which contains the first fifty monuments, also becomes a map, intended not as a navigational tool but as a conceptual space in which such monuments might exist. The unlikely monuments are therefore a device for the imagination, as well as for individual and collective memory, inviting us to rethink the modes of inclusion and exclusion from history and the related social differences and inequalities in the public space, through photography. The photographic activity is also understood as an editorial practice, through which these works have been produced and realised.

The event, moderated by the curators, will take place in person and is open to the public. 

It will be possible to access a virtual room upon request for valid reasons (physical distance, study commitments abroad, health conditions, etc.) by sending an email to ficlit.textl@unibo.it to receive a personal invitation link. 

Sonia Lenzi is a photographer and artist whose practice takes a multidisciplinary and research-based approach. Her work explores themes such as a sense of belonging, affinities, and the memory of people and places. She uses photography to recreate social relationships through signs, symbols and gestures. She holds a diploma from the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, a degree in Philosophy and Law from the University of Bologna, and specialises in Administrative Sciences and Digital Archives. Her works are held in numerous collections in Italy and abroad. Her books, exhibitions and publications include: Ritratti dell’ultimo ritratto (Danilo Montanari Editore, 2013), Avrei potuto essere io / It Could Have Been Me (2015), Lares Familiares (Archaeological Museum of Naples, 2016–2017), Last Portrait (Tosca Press, 2019), Take Me to Live with You (Blue Sky, Oregon Centre for the Photographic Arts / Kehrer Verlag 2021), Looking for My Daughters (Artphilein 2022), A Place to Live (2013) Unlikely Monuments. Excerpt from the catalogue (Tosca Press, 2024), Unlikely Monuments. Map (Tosca Press, 2026).