Negativo 1930
Yvonne De Rosa
Based on a true story which happened in a small village in the south of Italy, the story focuses on Nina a young beautiful woman who fell in love with a fisherman called Peppino in the summer of 1930.
She fell pregnant and told Peppino hoping that he would propose marriage to avoid disappointing her father. His reaction was violent, and he strangled her to death.
During the time she was missing the police investigation revealed Nina’s pregnancy. Her body was found in the middle of the sea by a fisherman two weeks later, barely recognisable as her hair was gone due to the salt water. As her father repudiated his daughter’s body due to dishonour Nina was placed in a communal ossuary without a funeral.
Peppino was charged with murder, tried and found guilty.
The family never spoke about it, until Nina’s nine-year-old niece Anna, began having visions of a bald naked lady. Numerous masses and prayers were held to stop the visions and sightings, by Anna and several villagers also claiming to see her ghost, until one day they heard her say, "I am finally going away for a long trip."
Yvonne De Rosa met Anna whilst visiting Nina’s village. She showed her the locations of critical events and places Nina was ‘seen’. "Negativo 1930" combines contemporary ‘spirit’ and ultra-violet photographs with images of the landscape and key locations alongside re-enactments and interpretations of the sordid story. De Rosa investigates themes of collective grief, guilt, and conjuring.
This photographic journey examines the apocryphal nature of a woman’s need to right the cultural wrongs of a community. De Rosa explores parallel perceptions and realities of femicide, faith, fact, and possibly fiction between the ‘real world’ and the ‘other side’ linked through the photographic ‘negative’.
Yvonne De Rosa altered her path having graduated in poli- tical science to follow her passion for photography. Studying in London at Central Saint Martin’s then graduating with an MA in Photojournalism from the London College of Commu- nication she embarked upon her practice studying the human condition through photography.
Her first monograph "Crazy God" explored a psychiatric hospital where she had worked as a volunteer for three years, published in 2007 to critical acclaim. Her second book of the series "Hidden Identities: Unfinished" investigating the lives of undocumented children with no formal identity in the country they reside was exhibited at the V&A Museum of Childhood, in London. She continues to expose personal histories and stories of injustice and remembrance. Her powerful work continues to push her beloved photographic medium further.