23/05/2026 - 27/09/2026
la Galerie du Soir
Vernissage : 23 mai à 18h30
Michela Cane. Chi Ama Non Dimentica
As part of their partnership, Le Soir and the Photography Museum have launched the Galerie du Soir. To coincide with each new major exhibition at the Museum, the Galerie du Soir presents a young artist to discover. A commitment to the future, comprising four elements: a small but significant exhibition at the Museum, a portfolio in the magazine Photographie ouverte, a feature on the photographer in the pages of Le Soir, and a selection of their work on the website www.lesoir.be.
For this new edition of the Galerie du Soir, our choice has fallen on Michela Cane. All over the world, football draws crowds and stirs up passions. But nowhere is the worship of a single god of the beautiful game as intense as in Naples: Diego Armando Maradona.
Michela Cane wasn’t even born when ‘el pibe de oro’ was thrilling the Neapolitan public. Yet it is the cult surrounding him today that she has dedicated an astonishing body of work to, in which visitors are invited to participate. ‘At first glance, I have absolutely nothing in common with Naples,’ she explains. “I was born in a small village of 200 people in the Italian Alps. From the age of 12 or 13, I started photographing everything around me. Especially whenever we went on school trips. I was born and raised in the world of smartphones and took digital photos. Film came later.” Drawn to the world of creativity, she attended an art school. “I don’t know where it came from. Absolutely no one around me was interested in it. But I knew from a very early age that I wanted to get away, to see other worlds, and photography helped me do just that.”
She took the plunge during the Covid pandemic. “I wanted to leave Italy. Because of the way things were being handled in my country and because there are few art schools there. Or else ‘vocational’ schools where the only focus is on fashion photography. So I looked
at what was available elsewhere and discovered La Cambre in Brussels.” Curiously, it was through this that she ended up returning to Italy. And more specifically to Naples. “There was a project for the House of European History, in which students from La Cambre were taking part. I had to work on the theme of ‘the making of a hero’. Two established photographers were proposing series on John Paul II and Kemal Atatürk respectively. Religion and politics! What else could I bring to the table? Maradona seemed the right choice. It’s the popular angle. And that’s why I wanted to propose a project in which visitors could take part.” Panini-style stickers are indeed available, inviting everyone to take part in a gigantic mural. At the heart of it, Maradona, of course. “In football, what interests me is the way people look at it. The passion. And you feel that directly in Naples. I’m from the North but I have very close friends in Naples and I go there often. I was really fascinated by his image, as well as what he represented to the Neapolitans. I took all my photos during the week marking the anniversary of his death, when events are held all over the city. There are celebrations, not unlike religious celebrations. He is celebrated like a god, with songs in his honour. It’s a real cult, a veneration that unites the most diverse people. And at the same time, there are sporting events, a huge party at the stadium, and so on.” Although the idea of using archive footage initially appealed to her, she quickly abandoned it. “It was unnecessary for my project. I only used what I saw on the spot. It’s incredible how many images of him are circulating, in all forms, all over the city. Anyone can go to Naples today and see what I saw. The photo prompted me to visit the places where he lived, where important events took place, in bars where objects he might have touched are displayed like relics...”
A quest that gave rise to an incredible patchwork of images under the title “Chi ama non dimentica”. Those who love never forget...
Jean-Marie Wynants
