12th edition of Open Archives Week

On the occasion of 12th edition of Archivi Aperti, an event promoted by Rete per la valorizzazione della Fotografia – Rete Fotografia, the Santa Maria della Scala organizes in collaboration with the Alinari Foundation for Photography, the exhibition THE EAST AND ITS FACES. The photographic portrait of the Zangaki Brothers. The exhibition, open from 22 October 2026 to 25 January 2027, fits into the theme chosen for the 2026 edition of Archivi Aperti, "Reflected Identities: society through photography".

The project presents twenty-five works by the two photographers of Greek origin George and Constantinos Zangaki, active in Egypt from the 1870s, with studios in Port Said and Cairo. The route unfolds in the spaces of the Pozzo Chigi courtyard and the Giuliano Briganti Library and Photographic Archive and proposes an ideal Grand Tour of Egypt through original 19th-century prints, signed by the authors and preserved at the Briganti, and contemporary prints made from originals provided by the Alinari Foundation.

The exhibition puts into dialogue two central aspects of the Zangaki brothers' production: on one hand the portrait of the populations, of workers and of the various social figures of 19th-century Egypt, on the other hand the representation of the Suez Canal, symbol of technological modernity but also an expression of colonial dynamics and increasing globalization. Alongside views of cities, archaeological sites and landscapes, the portraits by the Zangaki brothers helped build a repertoire of "types" of people, trades and customs aimed at the European public, returning an image of Egypt that was at once documentary and deeply tied to the Western gaze.