Hidden Islam – Nicolò de Giorgis

Hidden Islam is an accurate map of the temporary houses of prayer that the Muslim population improvised in Northern Italy to deal with the difficulties of getting official permissions due to the adverse political situation. The author, Nicolò Degiorgis, inspects these spaces from two points of view, which are mirrored also in the publication: black and white, rigid photographies depicting the outside of these anonymous buildings – garages, warehouses, an old night club – hide a coloured two-page spread that shows the interior used for worship. Rather than a complaint, the work aims to inspect a current phenomenon and to encourage a reflection on it, a task that is assigned do the viewer.

Following this, in 2014, is Hidden Islam-479 comments, a book collecting the 479 extreme comments caused by an article on Degiorgis’ work that was published on the Guardian – a snapshot of what people think of immigration, of Islam, and on the extent to which the work got out of the author’s control.

Bianca Cavuti

Nicolò Degiorgis, Hidden Islam, 2011.

© Nicolò Degiorgis 2011