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It was during a trip to Naples in the 1980s that photographer Martin Claßen of Cologne first discovered a collection of diminutive wall altars in one of the oldest parts of town. Twenty years later, he resolved to return to the “Quartiere Spagnolo” and photograph these simple but powerful expressions of a deeply rooted religious devotion among the people living in this neighborhood.
The inhabitants of these narrow alleyways erect and maintain these “cappelle” in reverence of saints and miracle-workers, many of whom are only known locally, and also in memory of deceased relatives, as family altars. Their form and design, which have roots in Christian belief as well as pagan traditions, are often quirky and bizarre.
The alleyways in Martin Claßen’s analog photographs are so narrow that the wall altars look almost like panel paintings, bearing bright testimony to the power of popular religion in the streets of Naples.
A series of around 20 photographs from this project will be on show as part of the Visual Gallery at photokina 2008.
This exhibition was produced by the photo laboratory kontrastlab in Cologne.
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