Published by the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery, College of the Holy Cross in conjunction with the 2014 exhibition: THE ITALIAN PRESEPE - Cultural Landscapes of the Soul . 
Among the glories of Christmastime in Italy are the thousands of nativity scenes, or presepi, that appear in churches, town squares, and private homes throughout the country. Everyone from school children to highly trained artists vibrantly practices the Italian nativity, an ancient form of installation art. Set up from early December until after Epiphany on January 6, these figurative and live reenactments of Christ s birth reach back at least as far as St. Francis, who staged a nativity scene in 1223 in Greccio. 
Through the centuries the presepe has developed a history deeply entwined with Italian art and culture. Each presepe, a miniature cabinet of memory, is a palimpsest of Italian art and culture. 
The Italian Presepe, Cultural Landscapes of the Soul is the culmination of a three year collaborative project between Margot Balboni, a cultural landscape photographer and Professor Sarah Stanbury, a medievalist at the College of the Holy Cross. A journey very much driven by the artists, collectors, historians and curators they met along the way. 
The book, with preface by Gallery Director Roger Hankins, includes over 60 of Balboni's photographs of presepi in four regions where distinctive venaculars have developed: Rome Naples, Basilicata and Puglia and an essay by Sarah Stanbury, Nostalgia and the Repair of Place - A Nativity Scene in St. Peter's Square.

The Italian Presepe - Cultural Landscapes of the Soul

Photographer

Sarah Stanbury

essay)

Margot Balboni

Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery College of the Holy Cross

THE AMERICAN MADE ALPHABET 26 color aerial photographs of the man-made landscape from A to Z. THE AMERICAN MADE ALPHABET represents twenty years of flying in a helicopter at an altitude of a 1,000 feet cross-country over the hedge past the NO TRESPASSING sign. It is an edgy low down flight that explores the uneasy tension between the natural landscape and the sprawl of industry, agriculture, suburbia, city, and the roads connecting it all together. Aerial maps mark both natural and human hazards and Margot uses them to orient the viewer to locations. The letters/words of the alphabet add an additional layer of conversation around the tension between our idealized vision of landscape and what actually lays just the other side of the hill. THE AMERICAN MADE ALPHABET was published in conjunction with the exhibition at the Farnsworth Art Museum.

The American Made Alphabet

Arts & Photography

Foreword by Suzette McAvoy

Former Chief Curator Farnsworth Art Museum Rockland

MAINE

Photography & Video

Custom Museum Publishing LLC

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Books by Margot Balboni