From the moment photography was born, the body immediately established itself as one of the focal subjects of this new medium. The body to be discovered, laid bare, observed. A place for pleasure, but also for pain, at once vulnerable and incredibly powerful.
Now, more than ever, the body has become the field for every battle, whether over identity, gender or politics, individual or collective. The body can be commodified or sanctified. The perfect body is a lie wrapped in an illusion. The body should be celebrated in all of its forms and in defiance of all diktats. It is a place of freedom and a space to be liberated. For medicine, it is an inexhaustible area of study. For technology, which longs for a machine-body, it is a tool to be improved. Most of all, however, the body is engaged in a never-ending battle against its own end, death.
If it is true that photography can serve as proof, Cortona 2024 will unveil a “Body of Evidence”, where we will explore the body and, along with it, ourselves.
Paolo Woods, Artistic Director Cortona On The Move
