From 1984 to 1991, “God” lived in Naples, Italy. Outside the San Paolo stadium, every other Sunday, he could be found walking through the city’s streets, in a shoe store or in a restaurant by the sea. Diego Armando Maradona’s presence in Naples was much more than a football phenomenon for the Neapolitans: it was above all a religious experience. The presence of Dios in their city was a mystical apparition whose climax consisted of having your photo taken with him at a time when selfies did not exist.
Carlo Rainone, photographer and author of this book, travelled around Naples to collect the 120 images in this album, real relics in which Maradona poses in various contexts with ordinary people, shopkeepers, fans, friends and unlikely encounters. These photographs taken with Maradona were jealously preserved for decades in homes, offices, associations and restaurants, even in wallets. They are accompanied by texts and anecdotes that tell the circumstances of the shots.
This book is a testament to the Neapolitans’ adoration for the man who is widely considered the greatest football player of all time, but who through the images always appears available, easily reachable, clumsy, embarrassed and ultimately so endearing.
“In those years, taking a photograph was an action that required a certain amount of preparation and technical skills: loading a film, measuring the exposure, opening the shutter sufficiently—but not too much—and developing the negatives. Photography was therefore intended for circumstances and events deemed worthy of being remembered.
And what could be more unforgettable than a meeting with God in the flesh? The only way to sublimate the arrival of the divinity in the city was to have tangible proof of it. Moreover, between 1984 and 1991, taking a photo with Maradona was a testimony that the miracle had indeed taken place.
Every other Sunday, thousands of Neapolitans went to the stadium to see their adopted son play and, outside the temple where the ritual took place, the need to approach him, perhaps to have their photo taken with him, became more and more pressing for everyone.
Maradona, for his part, did not need to be asked twice, he never refused, he simply felt chosen. This is how family albums, restaurant walls and shop windows quickly filled with snapshots that can only be classified in one category: “La foto con Dios”. Once obtained, the photo was usually printed in a multitude of copies and distributed, like a holy card; it was enlarged, framed and hung in significant places where it could be seen and idolized, sometimes becoming real ex-votos, and places of pilgrimage. The world of football has always been full of references halfway between the sacred and the profane, but never as during these seven years of passion in Naples has the line been so thin. This book reconstructs the private and singular ritual – the race for the relic to jealously guard in one’s wallet – starting from the visible and collective ritual – the Sunday mass at the San Paolo stadium. To have your picture taken with Diego is to have had the chance to live in the same historical period as “Dios”, in a new year zero where everything is possible.
In 2017, I stumbled upon my first “foto con Dios”. At the time, Napoli seemed to be preparing to win their first championship since the Maradona epic and every Sunday I would visit some of the fans to document their anticipation and passion. While I was taking photos, I began to think about the hypothetical party that would explode shortly afterwards and so I decided to rummage through the memory albums of the people who had already experienced these celebrations in the 80s: I really wanted to understand what that happiness had been like.
Unexpectedly, a photo of a girl in a kimono next to Maradona appeared in front of me. A photo completely out of context and, for this reason, all the more interesting. After listening to the story of this photo and discovering the tenacity and perseverance of a young girl who had crossed half the world from Japan to have a photo with her idol, a question began to haunt me: how many photos of this type could be hidden around me? If a person on the other side of the globe had succeeded in their challenge by overcoming all the obstacles that stood in their way, the feat, I told myself, must surely be more within the reach of the Neapolitans who had the “Redeemer” at home.
The idea of reawakening these photos from the torpor in which they had lain for nearly forty years suddenly galvanized me. Until that moment, I had never really understood the phenomenon: I had unconsciously categorized it as a fortuitous event and never as a precise intention. Fascinated by the possibility of investigating and recovering a priceless treasure of thousands of unpublished photos of Maradona, I decided to go looking for him. The hunt for the images required archaeologist techniques, since most of them were found in the inaccessible walls of private homes. At first, I embarked on an improbable but fun research, street by street, going through Naples and asking if anyone had a photo of Diego. Then I expanded my investigation thanks to social networks and calls made in newspapers read by Neapolitan fans.
Given the inestimable importance of the relics, the jealousy they are the object of and the desire of their owners not to part with them, I had to reproduce the images on site in order to meet each owner one by one and to collect brief interviews to reconstruct the history of each photo. The final result is a testimony of religious anthropology, but also of photography, which tells the story of the boundless devotion of a people for the greatest footballer of all time.”
Excerpt from the author’s preface Carlo Rainone
Carlo Rainone (born 1989 in Palma, Italy) is a documentary photographer. He works on projects that explore the meaning of cultural identity and belonging. He has collaborated with Time, Internazionale, GEO, Sportweek,Vice.
Carlo Rainone : Maradona, la foto con dios, Naples 1984-1991
Editions Contrejour
Format : 24 x 30 cm
136 pages
Prix : 35 euros
https://www.editions-contrejour.com/
