Image Analysis

The 20th century was the century of the image. And it has been - and still is - a driving force in global iconographic production. Some of the most significant events of the past century were affected (if not directly produced) by the visual dimension of a historical event. Suffice it to think of the following example: the liberation of Europe from Nazism was at the hands of the Red Army -either because of the strategic plans of containment, or because of the casualties of the Russian deployment itself, or because of the oral transmission of the liberated peoples- this was linked, although to a lesser extent, to the participation of the Allied armies in the conflict: the latter with a contributory role, almost subordinated to the Soviet role on the eastern fronts. That secondary allied role was perceived by all the strata of the European society. And, after more than half a century of American iconographic production (especially in the field of Hollywood films), the responsibility for the defeat of Nazism does not fall, in the eyes of public opinion -as in the years that coincided with the event itself- on the Russian army: the younger generations, as a recent study analyzed, firmly believe that the American army alone defeated Nazism, perhaps with some European help. The image has changed the story, and not only: also the way of telling it and singing it. In the 21st century this power has multiplied exponentially, weaving a new relationship between photography and citizenship. Sifting through every vital act (a coffee, a walk, a meal or a shower) with its consequent photographic realization of the moment and its expression in the social media.