Cover Image: Praedia of Julia Felix, II.4.2-3 Photographs by Luigi Spina by agreement with the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, Volume “Interno Pompeiano”, published by 5 Continents Editions (Milan, Italy).

Inside Pompeii: Origins of a European Way of Life
Photographs by Luigi Spina, Wanneroo Regional Gallery
Wednesday to Saturday (10am – 4pm), until 4 October

There is something about the ancient city of Pompeii that continues to capture imaginations. Visitors and audiences of the site experience an unprecedentedly complex glimpse into a civilisation frozen in time.

Inside Pompeii: Origins of a European Way of Life, an exhibition of photographs by renowned photographer Luigi Spina, deepens and enriches this understanding of Pompeii through a distinct focus on the artistry of its public and private spaces, offering a personal lens through which to view arguably the most famous archaeological site on Earth.

Inside Pompeii is the result of a partnership between the City of Wanneroo and the European Union to celebrate and represent shared cultural heritage, as nearly 10,000 residents within the City of Wanneroo identifying as having Italian ancestry. The exhibition is drawn from a collection of 1450 photographs taken by Spina during Covid lockdowns. 300 of these photographs are currently touring internationally, and 38 of this touring collection are currently on display at Wanneroo Regional Gallery. 

The Covid lockdowns provided Spina with intimate access to the homes, shops, workshops, and entertainment venues that compose the ancient city. By using a camera designed to capture natural light and printing the images on archival paper, Spina captures the human spaces of Pompeii at their most vibrant, solemn and ethereal.

Curator Leah Robbie and her team at Wanneroo Regional Gallery have largely organised the images according to different sites, with each “room” of the exhibition corresponding to a specific site within Pompeii. In organising the photographs this way, a cohesive story is written about the everyday lives of those who lived and worked in the lost city.

One of the sites represented in the exhibition allows the viewer into the life of Julia Felix, a wealthy widow who owned a considerable amount of property, which she converted into rental apartments, shops and public baths to capitalise on growing urban demand. As part of his series, Spina has photographed one of the thermopolises, or fast-food establishments, that Felix owned. In the photograph Thermopolium V.3, Spina has brought into sharp focus and vivid colour the paintings of animals that were advertised as food at the premises, and the numerous spaces in the counters used to store and serve the food, not dissimilar to the way food courts operate today.

Another of these images, Praedia of Julia Felix, II.4.2-3 (cover image), was taken within Felix’s praedia (villa) as it stood underneath the shadow of Mount Vesuvius. Through the composition of the image, the structures of the praedia appear to sit beneath the earth within the Italian countryside, a breathtaking and yet sombre reflection on the lives in Pompeii and what came to pass in 79 AD.

What is singularly beautiful and moving about these images is the way Spina and the Wanneroo curatorial team have used light to convey both the vibrancy of life and the solemnity of remembrance. Spina’s command of sunlight within his photographs makes the images look as though they are lit from within. Robbie and her team have accentuated this effect by bathing each photograph in a simple, warm, wash of light. With this effect, to move between the images is to move between memories, while similarly expecting the owner of the villa to return at any moment.

There is an incredible profundity in being able to capture the essence of life in places that have been vacant for almost two-thousand years. Through these photographs, Spina manages to render Pompeii’s domus and atriums as bustling, purposeful and beautiful spaces despite their damage and decay. An enduring memento mori, Inside Pompeii is an exhibition that cherishes the lives and human connection of a civilisation long since lost, through a cultural partnership that exists today.

Inside Pompeii: Origins of a European Way of Life is exhibiting until 4 October at the Wanneroo Regional Gallery. For more information, visit:
https://www.wanneroo.wa.gov.au/events/event/992/inside_pompeii_origins_of_a_european_way_of_life