Reportage

Abstract

«What I remember most of all was the silence in the cathedral. I remember the piles of rubble, the charred beams, the debris. It was a depressing sight. But at the same time, the chairs of the congregation and the pews had remained intact. It was pretty amazing» (Zachmann, 2021). The work of Patrick Zachmann (2021), the first photographer allowed inside Paris’ Notre-Dame Cathedral after the 2019 fire, highlights how the power of photography lies in what cannot be told with words, text or sound. In the silence of the shot  Yona Friedman (2011), in the introduction to the essay «L’ordine complicato. Come costruire un’immagine”, states that we «think simultaneously in words and images. [...] Words are perfect for analyzing an experience; to express the totality, we need images» (Friedman, 2011). The new column “Reportage” intends to deepen the vision of the themes proposed by the journal, through photography as a critical tool that integrates with the written contributions.