Poetry touches what prose doesn’t. It conveys the depth of the situation. However, for most of the people, poetry exists only on paper.

For the famous Italian photojournalist and a founding member of NOOR photo agency, Francesco Zizola, this is not the case. His photographs define a visual narration between document and poetry.

“Poetry is the code through which humans can confront a purer idea of truth, where language shows its inability to touch what it describes,” said Francesco Zizola, in a riveting session yesterday (Thursday) titled ‘The visual narration between document and photography’ at the Xposure International Photography Festival, Sharjah.

During the seminar, he spoke about Hybris, a complex project that he holds close to his heart. The unique challenges he faced shooting at sea during this project changed his perception towards documentary photography because he realised that each of his images could be interpreted differently.

Francesco also discussed the reasons that led him to choose this topic, how he chose his photographic methods, the challenges he had to face while filming at sea and above all, the unique ways in which he is going to continue the project through the visual narration between document and poetry.

“What photography makes available to us today is more complex than it was in the past. So now is the time to try to entrust photographic images with the task of activating a process of not just narrating what the image shows but also the process that the image is activating in us,” he asserted.

Speaking about documentary photography in particular, Francesco said he believes that in documentary photography, it is important to go beyond the surface.

Quoting the famous filmmaker Werner Herzog, he said, “There are deeper strata of truth in cinema, and there is such a thing as poetic, ecstatic truth. It is mysterious and elusive, and can be reached only through fabrication and imagination and stylisation.”

Organised by Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB), the four-day Xposure International Photography Festival runs from February 10 to 13 at the Expo Centre Sharjah with the participation of the world’s most celebrated photographers and leading international brands.