The project

Anna Simi’s “Capissce a mmè?” is not only a book of photography, it is also an accurate study of the cultural and etymological origins of the traditional gestures inherited by the people of Bari.

“Capissce a mmè?” follows the great success of the exhibition launched in 2014 in Bari, later exported to other European cities.

This project was born in the old city of Bari, where the characters of the photographs cur-rently live and hand down their legacy to the new generations including legends, traditions and native customs.

The gestures, interpreted by the protagonists featured in this book, represent their whole world of impromptu expressions, memories and quotes that the author studied and re-searched to get to the roots of their meaning.

Anna Simi’s work enhances the link between words and gestures which blossom into a new linguistic code.

The physical expressions captured in Anna’s photographs become strategically instrumental in the research phases of this project and help the public’s interest build up to the final discovery of the meaning of the gestural language.

In this project, words and their representation in images complement each other. The pur-pose of Anna's work is to capture the reader's attention, igniting the spirit of belonging as well as the instinctive will of preserving popular traditions, often neglected and forgotten.

This documentary mission by Anna Simi pushes the linguistic boundaries, transposing words and images in another language, crossing the cultural barriers of a project deeply rooted in its native origins.