Event: Artist talk & photobook launch – “Marinella” by Anie Maki

Talk & Photobook launch (IT) 27.06.2025, 6 p.m.
With Anie Maki and Lara Conama Mumenthaler

The book: MARINELLA

Marinella is a gentle photographic book, made of whispers and hearts pierced by arrows. It is a journey of revelation in which the viewer is guided to get to know the protagonist, Marinella, in the same way the photographer, Anie Maki, came to know her. After moving to Bologna to study photography, the author rented an apartment above the home of her landlady, Marinella. Over time, their friendship led them to gradually reveal themselves to one another. Attracted by the “bait” left by the woman on the stairs—popcorn (which she considered healthy), candy, and notes scattered throughout the book—Anie Maki built a strong friendship and documented the rooms where Marinella lived. These rooms were opened to her little by little, as their friendship deepened. The objects, displayed like witnesses of past eras, bring the past into the present, much like the spirit of Marinella’s deceased husband, Piero. The result is a journey into the most hidden corners of Marinella’s life. Generations apart—one of the photographer and the other of this singular lady—the two women met in their shared loneliness and in their peculiar obsession: the accumulation of memories. While the landlady, for instance, offered orange peels to her tenants, unable to throw them away, the photographer cataloged with fascinated curiosity this bizarre world of trinkets and oddities that appeared before her lens.

Published by Lotta Bindery Books, a precious independent publishing house, Marinella offers us a lesson in humanity.

Maria Elisa Dainelli

Marinella is Anna’s fascinating neighbor. 
She has long white hair and pronounced psychic and telepathic abilities. She loves pink and blue, popcorn, and colorful candies.
 She has a special relationship with angels and the afterlife, where her husband Piero and her cat Minny, who recently passed away, now live.
 The bond between Anna and Marinella is made of listening, telepathy, stories, as well as notes, gifts, and sweets that Marinella leaves like bait on the stairs leading to her apartment, inviting Anna into her den to spend time together. 
A descendant of a baroness, Marinella reads Novella 2000 in her armchair, surrounded by old objects and cobwebs.

The Book

Marinella

by Anie Maki (Lotta Books, 2024)
Color photographs by Anie Maki
Texts by Anie Maki and Marinella (in Italian and English)
17×12 cm, 132 pages, clothbound (soft cloth)
Copies of the book will be available during the event

Anna Michelotti

Anna Michelotti, aka Anie Maki, was born and raised in South Tyrol.
 She earned a degree in Communication Sciences from the University of Bologna and specialized in photography at the Spazio Labo’ Photography Center.
 She works as a photographer in Bolzano while also cultivating personal photographic projects.
 Her artistic research revolves around the theme of relationships, which she explores through photography. She enjoys working with archival material and maintaining a psychological perspective on the stories shared with her, investigating human relationships and weaving connections between past and present.
 She is passionate about the humanities, writing, reading, and printing, as well as collecting old objects and digging through archives—but she also enjoys tending to plants in a beautiful garden.
 Her first book, Marinella, was published in November 2024 by Lotta Books.

Lara Conama Mumenthaler

Lara Conama Mumenthaler was born into a Swiss family that emigrated to Sicily and grew up in the Chianti hills.
 She attended the Art Institute in Siena, specializing in sculpture. There she honed her manual skills and, in 2012, won the Master of Arts award, also creating two sculptures for the Palio di Siena. 
After graduating, she enrolled at the Free Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, specializing in photography. During her studies, she discovered a new passion for photobooks, which led her to explore the structure and composition of books in depth.
 In 2019, after completing her degree, she decided to found an artist bookbinding workshop, which later evolved into a publishing house. She currently works in both photography and bookmaking through Lotta Bindery Books.

Lotta Bindery Books

Lotta Bindery is a workshop specializing in editorial design and contemporary artisanal bookbinding.
 From this was born Lotta Books, an independent publishing house focused on photography, with the goal of promoting emerging Italian and international photography.
 It emphasizes limited editions to maintain the same artisanal practice and spirit of the entire Lotta project.
 Each book is handmade, with care and attention given to every detail.