Sicilian Passage

A Brooklyn-born photographer, Roma set out in 1982 on a Guggenheim Fellowship to explore his ancestral Sicily, which he captures here in evocative, black-and-white photographs. In one image, a young woman cradles her baby on a sun-faded tile balcony; beside her are potted plants and a washer and dryer. Roma (Found in Brooklyn; co-author of Show & Tell) shows a countryside that could very well belong to another era: a young man hovers over a newborn goat on dry, rocky soil; a young shirtless boy stands in the shade, holding a baby goat. In one of the many landscape photos, a white slip hangs on a clothesline; next to it a sign reads""Panificio"" and points to the distant barren mountains. Roma's photos reveal Sicily's harsh beauty; in many of them the bright sunshine is barely contained.