Near the church Santa Chiara, the killer game, Palermo, 1982
Photograph by Letizia Battaglia. ©Archivio Letizia Battaglia
Shot dead while picking up his car from the garage, Palerme, 1977
Photograph by Letizia Battaglia. ©Archivio Letizia Battaglia
The arrest of ferocious Mafia boss Leoluca Bagarella. Palermo, 1979. Photograph by Letizia Battaglia ©Archivio Letizia Battaglia
BIOGRAPHY
Letizia Battaglia and Zecchin, 1978 @Franco Zecchin
Born in Palermo, Letizia Battaglia (1935-2022) was one of the first female photojournalists to establish herself on an equal footing with her male colleagues. In 1990, she entered politics, joining the Green Party in Palermo, and gave up photojournalism, although she continued her activism, notably through publishing. In 1991, she co-edited Mezzocielo, a biannual magazine written by women to make their voices heard against the mafia and to change society. The following year, she used her salary as a member of parliament to found the publishing house Edizioni della battaglia.
In 2007, she founded the International Center of Photography in Palermo, which she ran until the end of her life. She received several honorary distinctions:
• 1985: Eugene W. Smith Award
• 1999: Mother Jones San Francisco
• 2007: Cornell Capa Infinity Award (New York) Peace Woman Across the Globe Award
Her work is featured in numerous institutions and is regularly presented to the public.
EXHIBITIONS
2025–2026
- Letizia Battaglia. The Work: 1970–2020, Museo Civico San Domenico, Forlì
2025
- Letizia Battaglia - Franco Zecchin, Sicilian chronicles, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès
- Letizia Battaglia- J'ai toujours cherché la vie, Les Rencontres photographiques d'Arles
- Chronicle, Life, Love, Italian Cultural Institute, Edinburgh
- Letizia Battaglia, Château de Tours, with Jeu de Paume
2024
- Letizia Battaglia. Senza Fine, Arena dello Stretto, Reggio Calabria
2023
- Letizia Battaglia sono io, Palazzo Ducale, Gênes
- Letizia Battaglia: Chronique, Vie, Amour, Italian Cultural Institute, Paris
2022
- Letizia Battaglia: Photography as a Life Choice, Galerie Jakopič, Ljubljana
2019
- Letizia Battaglia: Storie di strada, Palazzo Reale, Milan
2016
- Letizia Battaglia. Per pura passione, MAXXI – Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome
2008
- Italics: Arte italiana fra tradizione e rivoluzione 1968–2008, Palazzo Grassi, Venise
1987
- Montreal Photography Month
1986
- Group show, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
1981
- L’informazione negata: il fotogiornalismo in Italia 1945‑1980, Pinacoteca Provinciale, Bari
1979
- Mafia oggi, Centro siciliano di documentazione “Giuseppe Impastato”, Palerme (exposition itinérante)