There are images that reveal and images that preserve. The photographs of Nobuyoshi Araki belong to both categories: they reveal and conceal, transforming every fragment of reality into a page of life.
It is precisely in this tension between confession and mystery that Secret Pages is situated, the exhibition dedicated to one of the most influential and controversial protagonists of contemporary photography, scheduled from July 18 to October 17, 2026 at the Carlo Contini Art Gallery in Oristano.
The exhibition, curated by Sonia Borsato and included in the program of the twenty-eighth edition of the “Dromos Festival”, this year dedicated to the theme Secrets, presents 122 photographic works, of which one hundred and one Polaroids and twenty-one photographs of various dimensions, all from the Molinas Balata Collection. A refined selection that traverses some of the most emblematic territories of Araki’s poetics: desire and memory, intimacy and loss, sensuality and melancholy, life and death. One hundred and twenty-two images that compose a fragmentary yet coherent narrative, like the pages of a private diary left ajar before the public’s gaze.
In dialogue with the festival’s theme, Secrets, which explores the value of the hidden as a source of curiosity, creativity, and belonging, the photographs of Secret Pages do not offer answers, but open spaces for reflection. Fragments of the real world captured in Araki’s photos preserve what normally escapes the gaze, where the secret is not something to be unveiled, but rather a dimension to be traversed with delicacy, in the awareness that every revelation brings with it new questions and new mysteries.
INFO
Carlo Contini Art Gallery
Via Sant’Antonio, Oristano
July 18 – October 17, 2026
Opening with free admission
Saturday, July 18 at 7:00 PM
Opening hours
Monday to Friday 9:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Saturday and Sunday 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Exhibition ticket
5 euros
The exhibition contains explicit images; for this reason, it is recommended for an adult audience.
Credits
The exhibition, part of the program of the XXVIII edition of the Dromos festival, is organized by the cultural association of the same name with the support of the Municipality of Oristano – in collaboration with the Oristano Foundation and the Carlo Contini Art Gallery – the MiC – Ministry of Culture, the Autonomous Region of Sardinia (Department of Public Education, Cultural Heritage, Information, Entertainment and Sport and Department of Tourism, Crafts and Commerce), the Sardinia Foundation.