The transformations of Italy in the second half of the 20th century, political and social tensions, Milan’s cultural life, and individual stories are transformed into images and words in the work of Carla Cerati, a photographer and writer who made her own research a tool for observing and questioning reality. One hundred years after her birth and ten years after her passing, Palazzo Reale is dedicating “Plurale femminile. Photography and Writing, 1926–2026” to her—a comprehensive retrospective exhibition scheduled to run in Milan from September 26, 2026, to January 10, 2027.
The exhibition brings together approximately two hundred photographs, accompanied by books, archival materials, and video contributions, to reconstruct an artistic journey in which the documentary image intertwines with writing and autobiographical memory. Sponsored by the City of Milan – Culture and produced by Palazzo Reale, Pernice Group, and Cluster-A, the exhibition is curated by Giovanna Calvenzi, Elena Ceratti, and Mariateresa Cerretelli.
The exhibition project brings into dialogue two complementary dimensions of Cerati’s work: on the one hand, a focus on current events, politics, and societal changes; on the other,an exploration of family memory and personal experience, developed through narrative. These two paths, spanning over thirty years of work, have helped shape a multifaceted vision of reality.
Born in Bergamo and later moving to Milan, Cerati identified the Lombard capital as one of the main subjects of her photography. Through her images, she has documented the city’s transformations —from postwar reconstruction to the economic boom, through the protests and political tensions of the 1970s. New neighborhoods, workers’ protests, student marches, and feminist demonstrations make up a visual narrative of urban and social transformations. Alongside the public sphere, an ironic perspective on the behaviors of the bourgeoisie and the rituals of Milanese cultural life also emerges.
In his portraits of 20th-century intellectuals and in the photographs taken at the Einaudi Bookstore on Via Manzoni, Cerati immortalized some of the leading figures of postwar Italian culture. Theater also occupies a significant place in his body of work: from the experiences of the Living Theatre to those of Eduardo De Filippo, the stage becomes a space in which to explore the boundary between reality and representation.
One of the exhibition’s most important sections is dedicated to *Morire di Classe*, the photo essay created in collaboration with Gianni Berengo Gardin in the context of the research and advocacy efforts of Franco Basaglia and Franca Ongaro Basaglia. Published by Einaudi in 1969, the book documents living conditions within Italian psychiatric hospitals.
These photographs reveal a reality that had until then been largely hidden from public view and helped fuel the debate on conditions in mental institutions, paving the way for the Basaglia Law and the closure of psychiatric hospitals. The power of these images lies in their ability to bear witness to a situation of profound suffering without reducing the people photographed to mere objects of documentation. Cerati’s gaze maintains an attentive and respectful engagement, combining social critique with a focus on individual dignity.
The exhibition also includes photographs dedicated to political news, the status of women, and the representation of the female body. These themes are complemented by her explorations of landscapes and architecture, as well as the experimental work she produced in the final years of her career.
The title *Plurale femminile* (Feminine Plural) evokes the very variety of perspectives that run through the artist’s work: as a photographer and writer, an observer of collective history, and an interpreter of her own personal experience. An artistic identity that unfolds through different forms of expression, while keeping the focus on people and the contradictions of society.
The exhibition is organized across ten rooms, where large-scale prints, projections, three-dimensional structures, and immersive environments guide visitors through the various thematic sections. The photographs remain at the heart of the narrative, while original documents and concluding audiovisual contributions allow visitors to delve deeper into Cerati’s work and hear her voice directly. A century after her birth, *Plurale femminile. Photography and Writing, 1926–2026* aims to retrace the journey of an artist who was able to connect image and word, individual memory and collective history, formal exploration and civic engagement.
“The exhibition stems from a desire to present Carla Cerati in her entirety, without separating the photographer from the writer or public history from private memory. Her work is plural in its languages and themes, yet it stems from a single need: to understand her own time and find a way to tell its story,” emphasizes Elena Ceratti, the author’s daughter and co-curator of the exhibition.
“Hosting a retrospective exhibition dedicated to Carla Cerati at Palazzo Reale means restoring to Milan the perspective of an author who, with rare rigor and sensitivity, was able to chronicle the city’s social, urban, and cultural transformations over more than half a century,” stated Tommaso Sacchi, Milan’s Councilor for Culture. “On the centennial of her birth, the city recognizes her work as a living heritage that is still capable of challenging the present and speaking to new generations with the same power with which she chronicled her own era. This exhibition is a visual and literary journey through more than 200 works, designed to rediscover one of the great figures of Italian culture and, through her, the women who, throughout the 20th century, served as a critical mirror of their time.”
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| From Mental Hospitals to Feminist Struggles: 200 Photographs by Carla Cerati at Palazzo Reale in Milan to Mark Her Centennial |
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