Vittorio Sancipriano’s project is a visual reflection that goes beyond the intent of documenting the tragedies of migration across the Mediterranean Sea.

The “report” section—displayed along the corridor—provides a brief, almost journalistic glimpse into the author’s experience aboard quarantine and migrant rescue ships.

The work then moves away from a documentary approach, focusing the photography on a stage where observation must give way to interpretation.

The core of the project—exhibited in the rooms—tackles the theme of migration to uncover a much deeper issue: the fragility of contemporary communication systems, where an excess of information makes it difficult to distinguish truth from falsehood.

Through (staged) portraits, the project gives voice to the false propaganda of which we are both victims and accomplices:

In the pictures, refugees are seemingly travelling by sea, but without real necessity, as if on a cruise ship.

Irony becomes a way to confront the reality of this social and human issue, while also prompting us to question the truthfulness of our own opinions. It encourages critical reflection, an interpretation of the overwhelming information we face—a push to learn how to discern truth from lies independently.

Images of the sea—calm or stormy—accompany the portraits in a dichotomy between man and nature: a sea in which one can immerse oneself without seeing beyond, just as experienced firsthand by those who cross it.

On the floor,  facsimile cards displaying the identification photos of migrants taken upon their arrival in Lampedusa by the authorities are left to be stepped on. These images, representing reality in a raw and objective manner, stand in direct contrast to the mockery of the staged portraits.