This is the third exhibition I have organized for RAW on the theme “FROM THE BODY/PLAY TO THE BODY AT PLAY—Art, Imagination, and Languages in the Construction of the Self,” and Valter Sambucini—www.valtersambucini.it—has always participated, as this topic remains at the center of his research. Prior to this book, he had already published his photographs in my volume “Real Cities, Imaginary Cities” (Robin 2019), which was highlighted in a dedicated article in the third volume of Giorgio Di Genova’s essay collection “Interventions and Erratic Explorations on Art” (Gangemi Editore 2021). The book we will be presenting on this occasion, however, is titled “The Ghosts of the Self: Becoming a Poet by Photographing the Obsessions of Postmodernism” (with a foreword by Sergio Rossi and myself—Il Vicolo Editore—2026), which contains his most significant photographic works from 2015 to the present. Here is an excerpt from what Sergio Rossi writes:

-And Sambucini’s works are, ultimately, poems in images, where these two worlds find their point of convergence. Here, the ancient parallel between words and images comes into play—the famous “Ut pictura poësis” from Horace—which retains its validity even if we substitute photography for painting. In ancient times, the superiority of poetry over painting was justified by the fact that the former could express “emotions” and feelings better than the latter—a concept later overturned by Leonardo da Vinci and his theory of the “movements of the soul,” which has since become firmly established over the centuries. Painting, photography, and of course cinema can all convey emotions, joys, and fears just as effectively as a written story, with the advantage that they can condense into a single image or frame what a writer might take entire sentences to express. This is what Sambucini does, for example, in the series *Sunshade* or in *Taxi*, with Santa Maria Novella captured through the window of a taxi as the windshield wipers sweep across the glass….