Amongst dozens of rituals, processions, penitence and prayers his search focused particularly on the Holy Week (Settimana Santa), especially in the Southern Italy where it’s possible to find its most interesting and resounding photographic expression. Everything unrolls immutable like hundred years ago. This shot has been taken in Notticaro (Puglia). While in the streets dozen of thousand people gather the Holy Friday’s procession, a woman finds a more intimate way to express her faith secured inside a tiny chapel.
Umberto Carlo Sommaruga was born in Milan in 1953.
Following the passion of his Dad and thanks to his Grandfather's twin-lens camera, he started taking pictures very early on, without ever ceasing.
In the '70s black and white prints returned, following both improvements in the technique and his collaboration with the Milanese printer Rodegher. His first exhibition, still in the seventies, was in Milan at "La Rinascente".
In the following years he explored the slide and the multi-projection sound slide, favouring travel photography and landscapes.
Only in 2007 did he come to digital photography, finding new stimuli in photo reportage. With Roman photographer and friend Dario de Dominicis, he left for a second trip to Cuba in 2008, an opportunity that wasn’t a one-off and brought Umberto his first prestigious recognitions: in the USA the ‘Black & White Bronze Award’ for single photos (photojournalism section), shows and video projection evenings in Italy, and new publications in the USA, Great Britain and Italy.
In 2010 he was invited to Trento, to the central "Spazio Pretto", and then to other centers in Trentino, for a full-scale exhibition of Cuban shots in black and white. Also in 2010 at Palazzo Cusani (Milan) he exhibited "Immaginando Milano" on the urban and human evolution of his city.
In 2012 he wass presented with two excellence awards by the US magazine “B & W” for his reports on "Religion and Penance" and "Noche de Parrandas", which were immediately published in spring in Italy in the prestigious magazine "People of Photography".
The most recent acknowledgments come from the black and white shot "Waiting for J.P. II Beatification", which won him Honorable Mentions at the International Grand Prix of Novi Sad (Serbia) and at the British WPGA Portrait Awards, as well as admission to the international exhibition at the Centro Cultural J.L. Borges in December of 2012 in Buenos Aires.
Between 2011 and 2013 he exhibited twice for the Province of Milan, for whom he also held some meetings with the author. Also in 2013, two of Sommarga’s photographs were included in the "Urban" exhibition in Krakow. In October, two audiovisuals were included in the program "Dia Sotto le Stelle" organised by Lido Andreella.
He was invited to participate in the group exhibition "Imagining Cuba", curated by Carmen Lorenzetti, exhibited in New York (2013) and at the Accademia de Fotografia in Cuba in Havana (January, 2014).
In 2015 he exhibited in two solo shows, at the Festival Della Fede of Garbagnate Milanese and at WSP Photography in Rome, and in a collective exhibition at the SIPA Contest.
