Photographer Luis Alberto Rodriguez and set designer Afra Zamara join us in Spoleto to explore and document the Festival dei Due Mondi costumes archive, which has recently been catalogued by Monica Trevisani and a team of conservators. The archive holds approximately 3000 costumes, illustrating the history of performance (dance, theatre and opera) at Spoleto’s festivals from the early 1960s to the 2000s whilst charting shifting attitudes to culture and fashion. It includes the costume worn by Rudolf Nureyev for Raymonda (1964), the costumes for Modest Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov (1971), Jacques Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann (1989), and Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors (1996). Drawing on their backgrounds in dance and scenography, Rodriguez and Zamara will reactivate the archive: capturing the flare and detail of the original designs, whilst inventing new situations for the costumes and exploring relationships between performance, dress and expressions of identity.

Luis Alberto Rodriguez

Dominican-American Luis Alberto Rodriguez trained as a dancer throughout his childhood, graduating from La Guardia High School before receiving a BFA from The Juilliard School and performing worldwide for fifteen years before turning to photography. Now, he continues to study the human form’s movement, often using his subject’s body sculpturally and abstractly. In 2017, Rodriguez won both the Prix de Public and the American Vintage prize at the 32nd Hyeres Festival of Fashion and Photography. In the Spring of 2018, Rodriguez was named one of Red Hook Labs New Artists. In 2020, Rodriguez published People of the Mud, with Loose Joints, following a residency in Wexford, Ireland, reflecting on how cultures shape and are shaped by individuals. Rodriguez lives in Berlin. luisalbertorodriguez.com | Second Name Agency

Afra Zamara

One might say that Afra Zamara’s entire life has centered around creating environments. Born in Italy and growing up in Nigeria, Zamara’s childhood was rooted in innovative design with ecologically-friendly principles. Nominated in the 2021 NEW WAVE creatives listed by the BFC, Zamara earned a degree from the London College of Communications with an interest in photography. In time she found herself drawn to the creative energy and collaboration involved within set design. Zamara is celebrated for her interest in the deconstruction and re-purposing of materials; she is on a trajectory to truly incorporate the concepts of sustainability into her practice. Additionally, Zarnara is well-known for collaborating with and spotlighting emerging artists through the curation of her sets. Her editorial clients include AnOther, POP, Dazed, Double, and Arena Homme. She is based in London. afrazamara.com | Second Name Agency