Feminist Photobooks in 1970s Italy

From the beginning of the twenty-first century, the expression photobook has proven highly successful, in the wake of a rich series of studies, festivals, workshops, fairs, and publishing initiatives. The term photobook has, however, often been used to indicate without much distinction, different types of books that contain photographs, which are created with unrelated aesthetic, political or social aims. This has generated a misleading perspective. It is for this reason that, in order to examine the history of feminist photobooks in Italy in the 1970s, I not only analyze the material and symbolic forms of these books, but also the contexts of their production and circulation, the artists’ careers and their relationship to Italian neofeminism. I will offer case studies of a selection of books that can be considered significant examples of the relationship between photography, artist’s books and feminist politics in the specific context of Italy in the 1970s.