A few weeks ago, in an interview on Italian channel Rai News 24 about the current war in Ukraine, Sicilian photojournalist Letizia Battaglia encouraged people to keep on taking pictures and documenting the Russian invasion and the horrors of the conflict. That was one of the last appeals she made. Dubbed the "Mafia photographer" for her images documenting Mafia killings in Sicily, Battaglia died yesterday at 87 in Palermo, Sicily.
Born and raised in Palermo, Battaglia worked in the late '60s as a freelance journalist for the local left-wing newspaper, L'Ora. In 1971, she moved with her three daughters to Milan where she started taking pictures and experimenting with photography.
In 1974 Battaglia returned to Palermo where she finally discovered who she wanted to be and what she could do with her camera. Initially, she thought she would have taken pictures of people, in particular women and children, for a local paper, but soon she found herself documenting a series of Mafia murders.
Internal wars between rival Mafia clans caused hundreds of deaths in Italy between the 1970s and '80s. The Corleonesi mafia clan killed local governors, senior policemen, witnesses and entire mafia families and, in 1992, two of Battaglia's friends – anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.
Battaglia's first image of a murder showed a man lying beneath an olive tree in a field, but more followed. Moving on mopeds to quickly reach the murder scenes, Battaglia took pictures of corpses in Sicilian alleyways, people screaming, women crying.
Sometimes the killings were so frequent that photographers had barely finished taking pictures of a murder scene when they were summoned somewhere else. More than just a job, taking pictures and documenting what was going on was her duty. Entirely self-taught, Battaglia used black and white as a way to be more respectful, and create a form of visual silence.
The photographer also took portraits of Mafia bosses, looking in their eyes, almost challenging them. Some of her images became real documents: images she took in 1979 showing Italy's former seven-time prime minister Giulio Andreotti with senior mafioso Nino Salvo (whom he denied knowing) were used by prosecutors in 1993 to show that Andreotti had links to organised crime (despite the evidence, the prosecution never succeeded in securing a conviction).
Battaglia was also the first to arrive on the scene and photograph the murder on January 6, 1980 of the president of the Sicilian region Piersanti Mattarella, brother of Italy's current president, Sergio Mattarella. Battaglia took a picture of him as he tried getting his brother out of the car.
The photographer also took a very symbolical portrait of Rosaria Costa, the wife of Vito Schifani, a bodyguard killed in a car bomb that targeted anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone. At the funeral of Falcone and his bodyguards, Costa, fragile, in tears yet indomitable, addressed the killers, "I forgive you but you must get on your knees if you have the courage to change." Battaglia portrayed her with closed eyes, her face caught between light and shadow.
Battaglia's images earned her death threats, but she wasn’t afraid: her camera gave her confidence, independence and strength. In the '80s Battaglia also organized an exhibition of her photographs in the village of Corleone, a Mafia stronghold.
Throughout her career Battaglia took 600,000 images of Mafia in Sicily, what she called her "archive of blood".
But Battaglia's work also includes pictures of women, children – and in particular young girls with inquisitive looks in their eyes – religious festivals, and patients in psychiatric hospitals.
At the end of the '70s, around the time the Basaglia Law or Law 180 (the Italian Mental Health Act of 1978) was being passed and the psychiatric system in Italy was reformed, closing down of all psychiatric hospitals, Battaglia would spend a few hours at the Real Casa dei Matti (Royal House of the Mad) in via Pindemonte, Palermo.
Here she would take pictures of the patients and learn about their stories. While working at the institution she discovered that often women were locked up in mental institutions by their own families who wanted them out of sight because they had been raped and were pregnant, or by their husbands who wanted to get rid of them.
A documentary film based on Battaglia's life, "Shooting the Mafia", directed by Kim Longinotto, was released in 2019, while Battaglia kept on being engaged in anti-Mafia events, but also worked on more commercial projects. Two years ago she shot a campaign for Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury sports cars Lamborghini that was deemed controversial.
The recipient of multiple international awards for photography, Battaglia was also involved in politics and was an advocate for women's and environmental issues.
Irreverent and iconic, often sporting pink hair in defiance of her age, Battaglia remained an indomitable icon. Upon receiving the news of her death, Leoluca Orlando, the anti-Mafia mayor of Palermo and a friend of Battaglia with whom she served both on the city council and as a deputy in the regional parliament, told the press that Battaglia "made visible what was invisible" through her photographs and her fights. Battaglia was indeed engaged in the social and political life of her city and also fought for the right of those people who are made invisible by society – the disenfranchised, the migrants and the LGBTQ+ community.
Her legacy is in the narratives told by her images: in 1982 Battaglia took a tragic picture of a sex worker killed in the small flat where she lived in Palermo with two of her clients. Her name was Nerina and she was killed by the Mafia because she had started dealing drugs by herself, disrespecting the Mafia laws. Battaglia's photograph allowed Nerina's story not to be forgotten, but to be passed down through generations.
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