Laura Leonelli\u2019s 2023 book I Won\u2019t Come Down: Women Who Climb Trees and Look into the Distance<\/a><\/em>, published by Postcart Edizioni, collects a hundred anonymous photographic portraits of women climbing trees from the late 19th century to the 1970s and includes texts from feminist authors. Within the context of the publication, this symbolic act of climbing trees becomes a factor of feminine liberation, personal growth, and social awareness of gender inequality. The book, with an introduction by Grazia Corali that starts with the poetic line \u201cIf you\u2019re not an optimist, you don\u2019t climb trees,\u201d was recently shortlisted in the Photo-Text section at the Rencontres d'Arles Book Awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An exhibition with the same title is on display at the Magazzino delle Idee in Trieste, Italy<\/a> until the 25ft of August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anonymous (11), United States, circa 1950<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have been a journalist for thirty years and started covering photography at university while studying art history. Since 1993, I have been writing about photography for the cultural supplement of Il Sole 24 Ore, Italy's leading financial daily. Since 2022, I have been curator of the Ettore Molinario Collection<\/a> and I am thrilled to have introduced Ettore to the beauty of anonymous photography. I currently collaborate with The POOL NYC<\/a>, a gallery based in Milan and New York, and together with Viola Romoli and Luigi Franchin, we promote exhibitions and collections of anonymous photography. I live in Bergamo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n Anonymous (4), France, circa 1950<\/p>\n\n\n\n I first became interested in anonymous photography about twenty years ago and I was immediately fascinated by the freedom of imagination and writing that it offered me. After having worked extensively with great photographers and curated numerous exhibitions, thanks to the study of anonymous photography I rediscovered a strong, honest contact with the photographic image and a responsibility to listen in the first person, which I missed. At first, I collected anonymous images with some references to Surrealism, and here and there I found a few pictures of women in trees, mostly American. Then in 2016, at Paris Photo, I discovered Jochen Raiss's beautiful collection, published in the volume Women in Trees, published by Hatje Cantz. The question the author asked was \u201cWho had photographed these women?\u201d Instead, I asked myself and tried to find out why these women wanted to be portrayed on a tree. And at that point, the question became intertwined with my personal life. Mine, in the sense of a story common to so many women. The book I won't come down. Women who climb trees and look into the distance, published by Postcart<\/a> - and I would like to thank Claudio Corrivetti again for the graphic and editorial care of the book was born this way. A small story, mine, to tell a much bigger story.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n Anonymous, \"High minded\", United States, circa 1910<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mainly my sources are on the web and sometimes when I can the flea markets, but primarly I search and find on eBay or other platforms. And I think I can say that the number of pictures of women on trees, the naturalness with which they pose, corresponds somewhat to the degree of emancipation achieved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n Anonymous, Czechoslovakia, 13th September, 1935<\/p>\n\n\n\n The question I asked myself, and which gave rise to the book, was whether this 'desire' to climb the tree, whether this gesture so photographically repeated at every age and in every latitude, and above all whether this disobedience had any additional meaning for women. In particular, I wondered if there were literary sources that spoke of this arboreal ascesis as a sign of emancipation and freedom. And indeed, there are literary references, starting with Little Women written by Louisa May Alcott in 1868, where Jo March is perhaps the first woman to climb a tree carrying a book. Jo refuses to stay at the foot of the trees, she doesn\u2019t want to be a root destined to nourish the fruits of other existences: the fathers, the husbands, the children, the eternally free masculine who instead climbs every tree, and from above looks into the distance, grows and conquers the world. Jo wants to be the root of herself, and her nourishment is culture. Thanks to the books, Jo transforms the tree into a space for personal growth and awareness. Therefore, of emancipation. And in my collection, I have a picture of a couple of American girls climbing a tree with a book. This proves, I think, that anonymous photography carries important memories.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n Anonymous, Ukraine, circa 1950<\/p>\n\n\n\n The writers I present in the book with their names at the opening of each chapter - from \"Louisa\" May Alcott to \"Voltairine\" De Cleyre, from \"Astrid\" Lindgren to \"Simone\" De Beauvoir, from \"Beah\" E. Richards to \"Angela\" Carter - reflect with precision in their writings on the experience of climbing a tree. An experience that is very often denied, and this is what Voltairine De Cleyre, who built her studio on a tree at the age of six, and Simone de Beauvoir talk about. Why are girls denied climbing trees? And what happens in the personal evolution of a future woman when she is denied from childhood a strong, vital contact with nature and with the very physical nature of her own body? How do the women of tomorrow will grow when they are prevented from making this gesture of freedom, this discovery of horizons that are greater than the landscape they see when they stand on the ground?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n Anonymous (7), United States, circa 1910<\/p>\n\n\n\n Historically, climbing a tree or even approaching one has been an act of disobedience for women. And since the time of Eve, disobedience for a woman very often means saying no to the laws imposed by men, even today. I believe that from the treetops, but also just a few centimetres above the ground, women instead experience a different space within themselves to become that original and unique individual to which we are all destined, as Carl Gustav Jung writes in the essay The Philosophical Tree. It is an arduous ascesis because women still pay for the freedom to say 'no'. But we must not give up, we must have courage, because changing the horizon opens surprising landscapes. Inside and outside of us.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nCould you introduce your professional background?<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nHow did the idea for the book project originate?<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nWhat sources did you use to collect the images featured in the book?<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nWhat new perspectives are offered in the book, and what insights did you gain during its compilation?<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nCan you describe the textual content of the publication? How do the voices of female authors like Simone de Beauvoir and Voltairine de Cleyre interact with the photographs in the book?<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nFor the women in the photographs, climbing the tree represents a harmless act of disobedience, showcasing their power and independence. What do you think they see from their elevated vantage point?<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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