Bitter Love

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Letizia Battaglia (1935–2022) stands among the greatest figures of Italian social documentary photography. At nearly forty, this mother of three left everything behind to become a photojournalist and started working for the newspaper L’Ora. She captured her native Palermo with rare intensity, documenting both the brutal grip of the Cosa Nostra on the city and the everyday lives of its inhabitants with a focus on women and children. A committed activist, she became politically involved in the fight against the mafia during the 1980s. In this intimate portrait, Letizia Battaglia tells her story through her most iconic photographs. Through her gaze, at once tender and piercing, the full complexity of Palermo comes to light.