Carla Cerati Biography
Carla Cerati (Bergamo, 3 March 1926 – Milan, 19 February 2016) was an Italian photographer and writer. She began her profession in 1960 as a still photographer, then dedicated herself to reportage and portraiture. In 1969 the Einaudi publishing house published, together with Gianni Berengo Gardin, the volume "Morire di class" edited by Franco Basaglia and Franca Basaglia Ongaro where touching photos taken in various Italian mental hospitals appear. The volume will later be republished with the title "So as not to forget. 1968: the mental hospital condition of «Dying of class»". In the Corriere della Sera of 27 September 2005, Arturo Carlo Quintavalle[3] wrote in comment on the book: "And see the photos of Carla Cerati who takes up an image that has become emblematic: the man, hands on his shaved head, crouched against a wall (1968); it is these photos, and those of Luciano d'Alessandro (1965-68), together with the commitment of the Basaglias and many others with them, that will close the mental hospitals, places of terrible segregation that had until then been ignored" . In 1974 he published, with the publisher Mazzotta, a new volume including 34 photos entitled "Forma di donna". She made her debut as a narrator in 1973 with "A brotherly love". He has published numerous novels which, translated into various languages and received with great success by the public and critics, have won some well-known prizes. More than half of his novels published so far (2008) have received the attention of literary prizes of national importance, demonstrating uncommon narrative qualities. In 1975 he published the novel "A perfect marriage", finalist for the Campiello Prize; in 1977 he wrote The Sentimental Condition, winning the Radio Montecarlo Award; in 1990 he published The Bad Daughter and obtained the prestigious Comisso Prize; in 1992 with The Loss of Diego he was a finalist for the Premio Strega; in 1994 with L'intruso she was awarded the Feudo di Maida Prize, the Il Molinello Special Prize and the Vincenzo Padula-Città di Acri Prize; in 1996 with The modeller's friend she won the Alghero National Women's Award for Literature and Journalism in the narrative section.
