MALES AND HOLES by Francesco Filangeri

Photos © F Filangeri

Francesco Filangeri was born in Palermo, Sicily in 1969. He started taking photographs in connection with his studies in architecture, and since graduating has worked as a professional photographer, mainly for museums, art galleries and art publications. His photographic work has been shown in individual exhibitions in Italy and the United States, 'Maschi e buchi' (‘Males and Holes’, 1999); 'Io gioco' (‘I play’, 2000); and ‘Divine Light’(2002 & 2004). He now lives in London and is preparing a new photographic work on the city and its inhabitants, the logical continuation of the study which he began with ‘Males and Holes’.

‘Males and Holes’ is a series of fifteen diptychs, showing the portraits of fifteen men. They can be thought of as medals or coins, with recto and verso, or an inside and outside, working together to produce single pictures. The outside depicts the man’s external form, or the face he seeks to show to the camera, while the inside shows what the camera perceives, his internal form or his ‘hole’, the man imagined from within. At the same time, the architecture of the hole constructs the physionomy of the face, and the face gives life to the hole. There is a close formal and emotive relationship between the face of the man and his corresponding ‘hole’.

The photographs show ordinary men in different ages and in different expressions. Yet they are not intended to document these men’s lives, or to be a ‘real’ reflection of who they are. Instead, the photographs constitute a journey through the photographer’s perceptions of the male experience and an invitation to the public to make their own personal journey too. In 'Males and Holes', fifteen men tell us their intimate story, without inhibition or taboo, and reveal their lives, labours, hopes, and fears.

Technical details

15 diptychs each measuring 77cm x 53cm, containing 2 photographs, format 30cm x 40cm, printed on traditional glossy paper, framed not glassed.

The photographer was also responsible for the process of developing the negatives and printing the photographs.