The Metamorphosis of the Stars

A Journey between Cuba and China

At the beginning of the last century, the Chinese community settled in Havana’s Chinatown was one of the most densely populated Chinese communities outside of China. The idea for this project was born at the great gate of the “Barrio Chino” in Havana, with the aim of visually exploring and documenting the similarities and differences between Cuba and China. Bridging the conceptual gap between these nations, the project focuses on what they have in common: people on the streets, Communist regimes in transformation, iconic leaders and stars in the flags.

While China underwent profound economic reform since 1978, becoming one of the world’s largest economies, Cuba has experienced relatively little change. Despite the differences in population, economy, and cultural heritage, the project highlights the similarities between the two nations and tries to transcends preconceptions by focusing on the basic elements of daily life such as smiles, dances and visual cues of similarity.

The project provides a fresh perspective on the ongoing metamorphosis of two Communist governments, both impacted, as all the world, by ongoing globalisation.

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Touch Ground: Ali Baba

In 2013 alone, over 42,000 migrants braved the Mediterranean Sea in an attempt to reach Europe. Many ended up in Sicily and the surrounding islands. Thousands of these people have previously traveled this route and are still continuing to do so up to nowadays.

In “Touch Ground,” I photographed beaches, harbours, cliffs—the places where, in recent years, migrants have first reached the shores of Europe from North Africa.

I completed Touch Ground in 2014.

After almost ten years from “Touch Ground” nothing has changed.

Deaths at sea have risen and we looked elsewhere, failing to seriously face a reality that we should first accept and then, possibly, turn into an opportunity.

This is “Ali Baba”, a big boat stranded on the coast of Marzamemi (Sicily). It is not, yet, a wreck like many others.Around it are suitcases, jackets, lines. The sea will eat it slowly.Ali Baba and the 100 migrants.

In its “beauty”, enhanced by the sunset light, it almost seems to mock those who arrived with him at destination.

I hope these images can help us remember who didn’t make it and help who, strenuously, fleeing their country, is looking for a better life.

Humans of China a Trieste: images of the exhibition

Here some images of my recent exhibition “A Journey in China. Massimo Cristaldi talks with Takuzo Yamane” at the Museum of Oriental Art in Trieste (Italy).

The protagonist of the exhibition is the trip to China, a country very present in the rich collections of the Photo Library of the Civic Museums of History and Art and the Civic Museum of Oriental Art. The contemporary shots of the Sicilian photographer Massimo Cristaldi, suggested by the art advisor of the festival Angelo Cucchetto and by the association president Stefano Ambroset, dialogue with the testimonies of the early twentieth century by the Japanese photographer Takuzo Yamane, kept in the Photo Library of the Civic Museums of History and Art.

Humans of China: Trieste, Museo D’Arte Orientale, 28 Oct-27 Nov 2022

My new work, “Humans of China” has been selected for an exhibition in Trieste (Italy) at the Museum of of Far Eastern Art within the frame of “Trieste Photo Days 2022“.

The exhibition will open 28th October 2022 at 10:00am. On Saturday 29th, 2022 at 10:00am at the Sala Xenia, a meeting with all the authors in exhibition during the Festival days will take place.

The protagonist of the exhibition is the trip to China, a country very present in the rich collections of the Photo Library of the Civic Museums of History and Art and the Civic Museum of Oriental Art. The contemporary shots of the Sicilian photographer Massimo Cristaldi, suggested by the art director of the festival Angelo Cucchetto and by the association president Stefano Ambroset, dialogue with the testimonies of the early twentieth century by the Japanese photographer Takuzo Yamane, kept in the Photo Library of the Civic Museums of History and Art.

The photographs of Takuzo Yamane’s travels between 1909 and 1916 are disclosed in the precious volume “Bird’s Eye View of the Far East“, with a green silk cover, sewn in Japanese style. The images depict various Chinese cities including Wuhan, Shanghai, then known as Eastern Chicago, Manchuria, mines, railway construction, foundries, factories, agricultural or industrial warehouses, gardens, archaeological sites, ports. and the most important buildings. Many photographs testify to the considerable presence of the Japanese and Westerners for business reasons in China at the beginning of the twentieth century.

In the 21st century, Massimo Cristaldi puts aside black and white and returns a polychrome China where photography becomes an instrument of approach and participation. The author, who has always been interested in the representation of borders, documents, through photography, a personal itinerary of stories and stories in which the attention is focused especially on the faces of anonymous humanity.

Presentazione di Suspended a Catania – 21 Giugno 2022

Il mio libro Suspended verrà presentato a Catania, presso la sede dell’ACAF in Via Pola 22, Giorno 21 Giugno 2022 alle dalle ore 20.15. Sarò presente assieme al critico fotografico Pippo Pappalardo per raccontare la genesi del libro ed il processo che ha portato alla selezione delle fotografie e alla realizzazione finale. Sarà possibile, per l’occasione, acquistare il volume ad un prezzo speciale.

Suspended: il libro