Foro Civile c. 1870s

Editor: We’re looking at Giorgio Sommer's "Foro Civile" from the 1870s, an albumen print housed in an album. The photograph feels so restrained, capturing a place suspended in time. What layers of meaning do you find embedded in this image? Curator: Well, this isn’t just a picture of an Italian forum. It’s a potent symbol of historical memory. Think of the forum itself – a crossroads of Roman civic life. Sommer’s choice to capture this place, especially in the 1870s, speaks volumes. Editor: How so? Curator: Italy had just unified. Photography was helping to shape a national identity. Documenting Roman ruins created a link to a powerful, shared past. The albumen print itself is fascinating. Do you see how the sepia tones give it a romantic, almost melancholic air? It suggests something unearthed, yet forever lost. It begs the question, what is lost, and what is preserved? Editor: It does evoke a sense of longing... almost like looking at a ghost. Curator: Precisely. Photography captures the light reflecting off of these physical ruins but it can't truly contain history. Instead, the symbols trigger deeper questions: What parts of the past are we choosing to remember and celebrate and which are being erased or reshaped? Editor: I see that connection so clearly now, how Sommer uses the image to comment on Italy's identity in a modern age, reflecting on the weight of its past. Thank you. Curator: A ruin is never just stones, right? It is a powerful message. We should question it every time.