2016-2021
\ HOLOGRAPHIC LANDSCAPE_BIELLA is a photographic work by CROP Collective on the Biella area, starting from an iconographic research in the main archives of the area. The archival materials were consulted as a historical-iconographic source, but also as a starting point for articulating the current photographic experiences operated by the collective within the project.
HOLOGRAPHIC LANDSCAPE_BIELLA /05
L’estate del ’44_Valsessera
BARBARA BARBERIS
The theme of the chapter is the history of the “Partisans” in the Biella area, with particular attention to the activity of “Resistance” in the mountain, alpine and pre-alpine areas of the Valsessera, and in the plain areas of the Baraggia near the border with Vercelli. Its elaboration started from the consultation of the photographic archive of “Luciano Giachetti – Fotocronisti Baita” located in Vercelli, which with its over 2000 images represents the most consistent collection of photos about the Resistance History, and of the photographic archive of the Institute for the History of the Resistance, located in Varallo, whose photographic fund of color slides taken by Carlo Buratti “Aspirina”, represents the only known testimony in colors about the partisan experience.
The analysis of the iconographic and documentary fund of Giachetti’s archive, and the direct testimony of some ex-partisans who had known him, allowed me to reconstruct the events and identify exactly some places of the resistance activity of the XIIth “Nedo” division . Partisan detachment, in which Giachetti took part with the name of “Lucien” in the summer of ’44, and mainly active in the wooded pre-alpine areas of the Eastern Biella area (Mezzana, Masserano, Casapinta, Strona, Baltigati di Soprana), and in the flat territory della Baraggia (Buronzo, Garella, Rovasenda and Castelletto Cervo).
In the archive of the Institute for the History of the Resistance, I concentrated my attention on the photographic collection of Carlo Buratti “Aspirina”, who, in the summer of ’44, had joined the 2nd Garibaldi Brigade “Pensiero ” active in the mountains of Alta Valsessera, documenting the events in color slide film. In this case, The analysis of the iconographic and documentary evidence, already very detailed, allowed me to identify quite easily, using a hiking map of the area, the paths and mountain pastures immortalized by Buratti during his resistance activity.
Starting from the specifics of the photographic materials consulted in the two archives, I chose to use a black and white film to photograph the areas where Giachetti was active, and a color slide film for those in which Buratti acted. To take the shots I used two 6×6 medium-format cameras, including an Agfa Jsorette from World War II, also known as “Soldatenkamera”, which belonged to a German soldier.
institutions and funds
Isrsc Bi-Vc – Iatituto per la Storia della Resistenza di Varallo > Fondo Carlo Buratti (Aspirina)
CROP Collective
