The trip to Saudi Arabia by photographer Giovanna Silva and curator Emilia Giorgi.
Saudi Arabia had been inaccessible to ordinary visitors for about ten years, until fall 2019, thereinafter it has been possible to enter the country with an electronic tourist visa. In the suspended time that preceded this event, the architecture firm Schiattarella Associati invited photographer Giovanna Silva and curator Emilia Giorgi to set off on a journey—both physical and mental—in the country, trying to unearth the often minute and hidden traces of past buildings and historical tradition in the cities of Riyadh and Jeddah, now at the center of vast operations of redefinition, from an architectural, urban and social point of view. Saudiscapes is a project initiated by Schiattarella Associati, curated by Emilia Giorgi, and with the photographic contribution by Giovanna Silva.
Giovanna Silva lives and works in Milan. As a photographer, she exposed at the Venice Biennale 2006 her work about the city of Bogotà, Colombia. She is the author of Desertions, a chronicle of an american trip with designer Enzo Mari. From 2005-2007 she contributed to Domus and since september 2007 until september 2011 she was the Photo Editor of Abitare. She photographed Renzo Piano and Zaha Hadid for the Abitare's special issues Being Renzo Piano and Being Zaha Hadid, 6 month experience of architecture in the making. In 2011 she published the book, Orantes, ed. Quodlibet. In 2012 she published Narratives/Relazioni: Baghdad, Green Zone, Red Zone, Babylon, Mousse Publishing.
She is in the editorial board of San Rocco Magazine. She is the editor of Humboldt Books. She has a column on Doppiozero.
Emilia Giorgi (born 1977 in Rome) is an art critic and curator.
