Letizia Battaglia – Life, Love and Death in Sicily

Amidst a Sicily scarred by the Mafia, photographer, activist, and politician Letizia Battaglia (Sicily, 1935–2022) captured the raw reality of daily life in and around Palermo from the early 1970s onwards. A city plagued during that period by extreme Mafia violence, corruption, and political power games. Battaglia used photography as her primary tool to make injustice visible: the victims of the Mafia, the traces of violence in public spaces, and the consequences for the daily lives of ordinary people. The exhibition is on view at Fotomuseum Den Haag until August 23, 2026.

The exhibition Letizia Battaglia: Life, Love and Death in Sicily pays tribute to the work and legacy of Battaglia, a photographer renowned worldwide for her courage and commitment. With a broad overview of her work from the period 1971–2021, the exhibition shows that her photography extends beyond crime and violence alone. Battaglia also had an eye for everyday life: women and children in the streets of Palermo, religious rituals, celebrations, mourning, and intimacy. Her images reveal both the poverty and the resilience of a society that was under pressure for years due to the influence of organized crime and widespread corruption.

Broken roses, a sad symbol of a life cut short too soon, but also of lives full of passion for justice. On November 25, 2022, the Ministry of Economic Affairs issued a special stamp from the 'Civil Sensitivity' series in memory of 28 magistrates who died in the line of duty and in the fight against the mafia and terrorism.

The stamp, enclosed in a sheet of paper in the center, shows a work by Antonio Romano titled “Broken Roses” in the foreground. To the left and right of the stamp are the names of magistrates who died in the line of duty and in the fight against the Mafia and terrorism: from Judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, who were murdered during the Mafia attacks of 1992, to their colleagues who fell victim to terrorism during the Years of Lead, such as Francesco Coco, Vittorio Occorsio, and Emilio Alessandrini. The 28 names of the magistrates appear next to the stamp.

Battaglia began her career in 1969 as a journalist and taught herself photography. Photography soon became a means of drawing attention to what many preferred not to see. In the 1970s and 1980s, she was present at murder scenes and court cases almost daily. As photo editor for the newspaper L'Ora, she documented hundreds of mafia murders, as well as police officers, judges, and citizens speaking out against corruption and organized crime.

Her working method was characterized by proximity and long-term involvement. Battaglia knew the city, its neighborhoods, and its residents from the inside out. She stayed, observed, and returned time and again. This resulted in poignant images in which violence and vulnerability coexist alongside tenderness and humanity. The work brought her great personal risks: she received death threats for years, but continued to photograph out of the conviction that making things visible is a form of resistance.

Letizia Battaglia: Life, Love and Death in Sicily shows how her personal life and professional work are inextricably linked. The exhibition presents a multifaceted and layered oeuvre in which social engagement, politics, and urgency converge.

In addition to being a photographer, Letizia Battaglia (1935, Palermo, Sicily) was active as a journalist, civil rights activist, publisher, film director, politician, and museum director. Her work is included in the collections of leading museums and is considered an essential visual record of Sicilian life in the second half of the twentieth century. For her oeuvre, she received, among others, the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography (1985), the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mother Jones International Fund (1999), the Erich Salomon-Preis from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie (2007), and the Cornell Capa Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography (2009).

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Letizia Battaglia – Life, Love and Death in Sicily, until August 23, 2026 in The Hague:

https://www.fotomuseumdenhaag.nl/nl/pers/letizia-battaglia-life-love-and-death-sicily

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