The Stand-in Groom. Erik Kessels i PetriPaselli

10th Edition of the Panoràmic Festival

Between 1945 and 1976, more than 12,000 Italian couples married by proxy. Military service, imprisonment or restrictions on freedom of movement meant that, in many cases, one of the partners was unable to attend the wedding. The Stand-in Groom draws on the story of Mina, a woman from Bologna who, in 1961, at the age of 26, married Dario by proxy. Dario was in Eritrea, where he was working as a veterinarian. In the groom’s absence, his best friend, Franco, took his place during the ceremony.

A few days later, Mina travelled to Eritrea to reunite with Dario. She made the journey carrying her lace wedding dress inside a plastic bag. Their reunion was documented on colour film. The exhibition and its accompanying book, In Almost Every Picture 19, are the result of a collaboration between Dutch artist and curator Erik Kessels and the Italian duo PetriPaselli. Both have worked from Mina’s story and her proxy wedding.