Urbanautica

MARINELLA'S LIFE. ANIE MAKI

by Elisa Dainelli

© "Marinella" by Anie Maki

Marinella is a gentle photographic book, made of whispers and hearts pierced by arrows. It is a journey of revelation in which the viewer is guided to get to know the protagonist, Marinella, in the same way the photographer, Anie Maki, came to know her.

After moving to Bologna to study photography, the author rented an apartment above the home of her landlady, Marinella. Over time, their friendship led them to gradually reveal themselves to one another. Attracted by the "bait" left by the woman on the stairs—popcorn (which she considered healthy), candy, and notes scattered throughout the book—Anie Maki built a strong friendship and documented the rooms where Marinella lived. These rooms were opened to her little by little, as their friendship deepened. The objects, displayed like witnesses of past eras, bring the past into the present, much like the spirit of Marinella’s deceased husband, Piero. The result is a journey into the most hidden corners of Marinella’s life.

© Book "Marinella" by Anie Maki, Lotta Books

Generations apart—one of the photographer and the other of this singular lady—the two women met in their shared loneliness and in their peculiar obsession: the accumulation of memories. While the landlady, for instance, offered orange peels to her tenants, unable to throw them away, the photographer cataloged with fascinated curiosity this bizarre world of trinkets and oddities that appeared before her lens.

© Book "Marinella" by Anie Maki, Lotta Books

In a world where the shadow of the intrusive neighbor often becomes the plot of films (think of the 2003 comedy Duplex), and where loneliness marks the lives of many people quietly inhabiting their empty homes, stories like this remind us that there are different ways of living. Works like Marinella show us that leaving our doors slightly open to others can be a powerful political act. Choosing who to be with and listening to one another can become an art form, creating "chosen families," as the writer Michela Murgia once said.

Published by Lotta Bindery Books, a precious independent publishing house, Marinella offers us a lesson in humanity during dark times, when words like home, family, and affection seem increasingly confined within the solid walls of hypocrisy.

Anie Maki (website)

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