Photographic exhibition by Emanuele Artenio opening on the 20th of December at 6pm.
The show will be open until the 4th of January 2025.
Supernova is happy to host the show “Noantri” by Emanuele Artenio.
Trastevere is a shared story. A story of belonging and uniqueness. But not even here can time be stopped. It rushes forward, leaving behind the last traces of a place lived intensely.
“Noantri” is a journey into the last village within Rome. A neighborhood that was once home to actors and poets, sailors and rogues. Through the streets and faces of “noi altri”—the Trasteverini who have always distinguished themselves from the rest of the city: “voi altri,” you who live in other districts. With these shots, I narrate places, glimpses, faces, and traditions, but above all, people. Gazes, hands, wrinkles—those few who were born and raised in Trastevere and still live there. But they are disappearing. In front of my lens, “noantri” seems unchanged, yet for some faces and places, it has become a race against time. While this project developed, historic shops closed; some Trasteverini passed away, even among those who welcomed me into their homes and businesses, taking me back in time, well beyond my own memories.
In Fausto Tozzi’s film Trastevere (1971), sor Alfredo, a bartender, tells a customer from northern Italy: “Once, this was like a village. Now it’s become a port of call… foreigners and artists come, paying a fortune for houses… and the Trasteverini slowly leave.” Not by chance, the screenplay was titled Requiem for Trastevere. These words, echoing through the alleys and squares for more than 50 years, describe a reality that now seems imminent and perhaps unavoidable. Between 2001 and 2019, the resident population decreased by 15.3%; one in three residents is now a foreigner. To the quick glances of tourists or passersby, Trastevere appears striking, luminous, captivating. Its alleys are free postcards; its trattorias and taverns promise delights to all. But the tourist-heavy, nightlife-filled district is on the verge of swallowing the historic neighborhood, erasing its identity and soul—the very qualities that made it famous.
“Noantri” is not a nostalgic tale of what once was. I want to show what remains today of Trastevere’s essence—the intimate story of the people who lived it and are its witnesses. I sought it in the alleys, among cars and laundry lines, in homes, in old shops, or in cellars, trying to capture its true nature a moment before it vanishes.