(September 12, 2017) – An exceptional historical and anthropological document: on Saturday 16 September 2017 at 17:30 the opening of the photographic exhibition Siliva Zulu will take place at the Old Prison in Pietermaritzburg (4 Burger Street). The display is made up by 47 photographs taken by Italian anthropologist Lidio Cipriani during an expedition in Zululand in the 20s and will be accompanied by a silent movie shot with local actors on the same anthropological expedition by explorer Attilio Gatti. The expedition landed at Durban and headed to Eshowe, in the heart of the ancient Kingdom of Zulu. There the director turned the movie Siliva Zulu - a romantic look at Zulu life, while the scientist took a large number of images to portray the traditional Zulu in an attempt to capture their idyllic pastoral lifestyle, even though through a colonial look. These records, once contextualized and separated from the political beliefs of their creators, become very important historical and anthropological documents. After his discovery in Pretoria since then Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Pretoria, in 2011 a series of photographs and film expositions were organized in Johannesburg and Cape Town. In 2015, the project was reworked and shown in collaboration with the Open Window Institute of Centurion in the framework of the iMPAC festival. Pietermaritzburg is the first stop in KwaZulu-Natal, the same South African province where the exhibition material was photographed. The exhibition, organized by the Dante Alighieri Society of Pietermaritzburg in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of Pretoria, will be open to the public until October 1, 2017 with opening hours: Monday-Thursday 9: 00-17: 00 Friday, 08 : 30-15: 00, Saturday 09: 00-13: 00 e Sunday 10: 00-14: 00.

ABOUT / THE OLD PRISON

The Old Prison of Pietermaritzburg, whose construction began in 1862, dates back to the Voortrekker times, with over 150 years of history, including the colonial era, apartheid, liberation struggle, political struggle and finally the dawn of democratic South Africa in 1994. In 1991, the site was handed over to Project Gateway, a local church group working to rehabilitate communities in Pietermaritzburg. Thanks to their intervention, Old Prison is today a National Monument, cultural heritage and a museum, complete with offices, workshops and training rooms.