A Mahler & LeWitt Studios and Fondazione Carla Fendi project for the Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi

Photographer Luis Alberto Rodriguez and set designer Afra Zamara present an exhibition of exquisitely costumed models, tied and trussed, responding to the recently established costumes archive of the Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi. The archive holds approximately 3800 costumes, illustrating the history of performance at Spoleto’s festivals from the early 1960s to the 2000s, whilst charting shifting attitudes to culture and fashion. Drawing on their backgrounds in dance and scenography, Rodriguez and Zamara have reinterpreted costumes from the archive. The photographs capture the flare and detail of the original designs whilst placing them in new situations, exploring relationships between performance, dress and expressions of identity. Rodriguez trained as a dancer and performed worldwide for fifteen years before turning to photography. Today, he continues to study the human form’s movement, often using his subject’s body and clothing in a sculptural and abstract manner.