The time on hold – North Korea Travel Diary<\/span><\/p>\n It opens in world premiere on October 20th till November 28th at the Stadium of Domitian \u2013 Navona Underground in Rome \u201cThe time on hold – Travel Diary in North Korea”, an exhibition of the international photographer Umberto Stefanelli within the “Roma Fotografia 2021 Freedom\u201d Photo Festival.<\/span><\/p>\n A still mysterious world, the one the artist chooses to tell; a country of ordinary people, apparently ordinary lives, composed faces and barely perceptible feelings that reveal from a glance or a corner of the mouth; artistic visions and realities reported on paper, with a thousand difficulties and even greater prohibitions.<\/span><\/p>\n Pictures of everyday life, taken, most of the time, hiding the camera under clothing or from the inside of a passing car, a project in which only the gifted eye and the photographer touch count, a man able to shoot blindfolded, without looking hardly ever in the lens.<\/span> A unique and precious testimony, especially today, in which the limitations posed by the pandemic make travel so difficult, and even more so in lands previously inaccessible.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI chose to tell about people, everyday life. That life which, unfortunately, we speak little or nothing of, or, unfortunately, little or nothing we know of. No criticism, nor even favors of any kind. I have deliberately distanced myself from “politics” and from the more and more temporary diplomatic solutions.” declares Umberto Stefanelli exclusively.<\/span><\/p>\n Those exhibited at the Stadium of Domitian are unpublished picture from North Korea, images, which fix on paper what the glossy shots of the regime would not be willing to show.<\/span> Over 75 years have passed since that time but the Kim dynasty still rules a dictatorship that lays its foundations on the cult of the personality of the President, initiated by the grandfather of the current Supreme Leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Kim Jong-un and comes down to us.<\/span><\/p>\n In the faces portrayed, the dignity of those who live in a time out of time. In a crystallized universe where everything survives equal to itself. Where nothing changes, while everything changes; the resigned looks, the nervous expressions, the restrained emotions, the flaunted pride, the forced smiles of those who have a major score to settle with destiny. A score that, at least for the time being, seems impossible to settle.<\/span><\/p>\n Grew up artistically in Tokyo and New York, with exhibitions and artistic projects realized all over the world. His works are kept in the Polaroid International Museum USA, at the Brescia National Museum of Photography, the Civic Gallery of Modena, the CIFA – Italian Center of Author Photography, the Lishui Museum of Photography – China, the Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art and other public and private, national and international collections.<\/span><\/p>\n The time on hold – North Korea Travel Diary<\/span>
\nIn that solo trip, every move had to be communicated well in advance, photographing a concession to be granted under strict surveillance.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nAn unknown country where it all began back in 1945 when Kim Il-sung imposed himself as the main leader of the country after leading the armies against Japan in the communist resistance.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n19 October – 28 November 2021 – Vernissage 20 October 19.00 \u2013 20.30<\/span>
\nStadium of Domitian \u2013 Navona Underground<\/span>
\nVia di Tor Sanguigna 3 – Rome<\/span>
\nPress and Communication Office Stella Maresca Riccardi<\/span>
\nCurator Stella Maresca Riccardi<\/span>
\nProject Manager Sergio Emiliano<\/span>
\nGraphic Design Lucilla Cenciarelli<\/span><\/p>\n
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