Read more
Gail Albert Halaban (born in Washington, D.C., 1970) received an MFA in photography from Yale University. She has taught at the Pasadena Art Center and International Center of Photography, and at Yale, among other notable institutions. She has been included in both group and solo exhibitions internationally. Her previous books include
Out My Window (powerHouse, 2012) and
Gail Albert Halaban: Paris Views (Aperture, 2014).
Francine Prose (born in Brooklyn, N.Y., 1947) is the author of twenty works of fiction. Her previous books include the novels
My New American Life,
Goldengrove,
A Changed Man and
Blue Angel, which was a finalist for the 2001 National Book Award.
About the author
Gail Albert Halaban received an MFA in photography from Yale University. She has taught at the Pasadena Art Center, International Center of Photography, and Yale, among other notable institutions. She has been included in both group and solo exhibitions internationally. Her previous books include Out My Window (2012) and Gail Albert Halaban: Paris Views (Aperture, 2014).Francine Prose is the author of more than twenty works of fiction. Her books include the novels My New American Life (2011), Goldengrove (2008), A Changed Man (2005), and Blue Angel (2000), which was a finalist for the 2001 National Book Award.
Summary
Italian Views is a continuation of Gail Albert Halaban’s series Out My Window, featuring intimate domestic portraits against the cinematic backdrop of the city. In this new chapter, the artist shifts her focus from Paris to Italy—steadying her gaze through the windows of others in communities throughout Florence, Milan, Venice, Palermo, Naples, Lucca, and Rome.
Albert Halaban works with local residents to stage and collaborate on each portrait, and through her lens, the viewer is welcomed into the private lives of ordinary Italian people. Her photographs explore the conventions and tensions of urban lifestyles, feelings of isolation in the city, and the intimacies of home and daily life. Paired with the photographs are short vignettes by Albert Halaban, imagining what the neighbors might see of her subjects on a daily basis, and Francine Prose contributes a meditative essay discussing the curious thrill of being a viewer. This invitation to envision the lives of neighbors through windows renders the characters and settings of Italy personal and mysterious.
