[The Guardian] How a ‘photographer without a camera’ tells the stories behind mundane images

How a ‘photographer without a camera’ tells the stories behind mundane images

Dutch curator Erik Kessels talks to Guy Lane about self-portraiture before selfies, the beauty of amateur photography and one Italian couple’s life in holiday photos

Not a great deal is known about Carlo and Luciana, it seems. They came from Vignola, a small Italian city near Modena and not far from Bologna. They married and honeymooned. Carlo worked as a clerk in a hardware store and Luciana worked as a tailor. They retired. They spoke only Italian. They were childless. Luciana died first, Carlo several years later.

When they had the opportunity, they liked to travel. And travel they did – to China, Cuba, India, Thailand, the Red Sea, America and beyond. The reason we know so much about their holidays is because of the photo albums they made, filled with the portraits they took of each other, always pictured in exactly the same spot.

Florence, Italy 1959. All photographs: edited by Erik Kessels and Sergio Smerieri

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