Patrizia Mussa
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Selected Works
Teatralità
Mussa started working in this ongoing series dedicated to Italian theatres in 2000.
She reinterprets theatres not as places of historical representation, but as "open, unfinished forms", architectural spaces gradually consumed and transformed by time.
The theatre then becomes an object and an instrument, a temple, a church, a shining and golden cave which, in light and silence, promises yet more stories of emotion, splendour and clamour. And it is precisely this silence full of promise that lives in these images.
Warless Theaters (1977 - 2019)
Patrizia Mussa travelled throughout Yemen, Syria and Jordan as long as possible, mostly in the 1970s. The photographs presented in the exhibition were taken in Yemen in 1977.
Her images, carefully preserved for many years and today grouped in a series entitled "Warless Theatres", have been revisited recently. She reinterprets them as unsaturated images that allow her to travel back in time. For the exhibition, she chose to print them for the first time on watercolour paper. Each print is enhanced with hand-applied pastel.
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Biography
Biography
Italia ,
Patrizia Mussa is an Italian artist and photographer whose work explores the dialogue between architecture, memory, and imagination. Living and working between Turin and Paris, she studied Philosophy at the University of Turin and pursued further studies in Cultural Anthropology at the Sorbonne, a background that continues to inform her nuanced approach to space, history, and visual storytelling.
For several decades, Mussa has dedicated her practice to photographing architectural and cultural landmarks, developing a distinctive visual language that transcends documentary photography. Drawing upon extensive experience working with leading architecture and interior design publications, she transforms buildings, theaters, and historical sites into poetic landscapes where reality and fiction converge. Mussa is best known for her ongoing series Teatralità (Theatricality), initiated in the early 2000s.
Other major projects include Warless Theatres, a contemplation of landscapes in Yemen, Afghanistan, and Ethiopia photographed before conflict and upheaval altered them, and Le Temple du Soleil, an exploration of the utopian architecture of French architect Jean Balladur.
Across these series, Mussa reveals an enduring fascination with places shaped by time, culture, and collective memory. Her work has been exhibited internationally in institutions and galleries including Palazzo Reale in Milan, the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris, the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin, and Galerie XII in Paris. Her photographs are held in prominent private and public collections throughout Europe, the United States, and Asia.
Selected solo shows
2023 « Teatralità, architecture pour l'émerveillement et l'imagination », Palazzo Reale, Milan (commissaire Antonio Calbi)
2022 « Intervallo / Photopastel », Other Size Gallery, Milan (organisé par Claudio Composti).
2022 « Photopastel-Teatri » Musée Ettore Fico, Turin.
2019 : ”Un Orient alors en paix” - Expositon bi-personnelle, dans le cadre le troisième Biennale des Photographes du Monde Arabe contemporain, Galerie XII, Paris
2019 : ”The Time Lapse - Photopastel“ Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin
2018 : “Photopastel - Teatri e paesaggi” GSF Contemporary art - Galleria San Federico, Turin
2016 :“Warless theatres” Palazzo Graneri della Roccia, Turin
2015 : “Le Temple soleil” May / October - The Wilmotte Gallery at Lichfield Studios - Londres
2014 : “Le Temple du soleil” September / December - Villa Savoye LeCorbusier - Poissy Paris
2014 : “Le Temple du soleil” Pierres Vives - Zaha Hadid Building - Montpellier
2013 : “Le Temple du soleil” Palazzo Morando Museo della Moda e del Design, Milan
2011 : “Le Temple du soleil” Biblioteca Provinciale, Benevento
2008 : Theatres, Galleria Rossella Colombari, Milan
2007 : Teatro Italia, Galeries Printemps, Paris
2006 : La Buona Ventura, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris
2005 : Encore: Une Histoire de Beauté, IV International Festival, House of Photography, Moscou
2004 : Rénovation, Transphotographique 4, Musée des Beaux Arts Lille
2004 : Tailles Fortes, The Fifth International Photography Month, Photobienniale, Moscou
Selected Groups Shows
2011 : Esperienza Italia 150, Officine Grandi Riparazioni, Turin
2010 : Photo Vernissage, Feeling Italia, Saint Petersbourg
2010 : Sotheby’s Asta per Fotografi Senza Frontiere, Milan
2009 : Oltrefamiglia - Grandi Stazioni Spa, Milano, Roma, Caracas
2007 : Che scattoo! Fotografi a Torino, curateur Francesco Poli
2004 : Trash: Impressioni sull’Ambiente, Porto Antico, Genova, curateur Susanna Legrenzi
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Exhibitions
Exhibitions and Fairs
2026 | The Reverse Side of the Visible | Galerie XII Paris
2026 | Présence | Campredon art & image, Isle sur la Sorgue
2025 | Discipline[s] | Couvent des Prêcheurs, Aix-en-Provence
2025 | Palazzo Dreams | Galerie XII Los Angeles
2025 | Photo London, Stand A04 | Somerset House, Strand, London
2025 | AIPAD 2025 | Park Avenue Armory, New York
2025 | Teatralità, Architetture per la meraviglia | Basilica Palladiana, Vicenza
2025 | Architecture de l'imaginaire | Galerie XII Paris
2025 | Théâtralités | Institut Culturel Italien, Paris
2024 | MonFest, 2nd edition: "On Stage. Cinéma Teatro Musica" | Casale Monferrato, Italy
2024 | TEATRALITÀ. ARCHITETTURE PER LA MERAVIGLIA | Villa Zito, Palermo, Sicily
2023 | Teatralità, architecture pour l'émerveillement et l'imagination | Palazzo Reale, Milano
2022 | De l'avenir, donnez-nous des nouvelles | Opéra Comique, Place Boieldieu, 75002 Paris
2022 | Moderne Art Fair 2022 | Place de l'Etoile - 10, Avenue de la Grande Armée, Paris 75017
2022 | Photopastel | Museo Ettore Fico - Via Francesco Cigna 114, 10155 Turin - Italy
2021 | Art Paris 2021 | Grand Palais Ephémère, Place Joffre, 75007 Paris
2021 | Art Up Lille | Lille Grand Palais, stand E2
2020 | Editions spéciales Photopastels |
2020 | Départ immédiat - Boarding Pass Confirmation | 42 rue de Montmorency - 75003 Paris
2020 | Patrizia Mussa, Teatri - Photopastels | Galerie XII Paris
2019 | Paris / Art Elysées Art & Design | Avenue des Champs-Elysées, Pavillon A, stand 126A
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Press
