For any anthropologist, fieldwork represents both a professional obligation and a rite of passage. For Professor Fiamma Montezemolo, as for Fred Murdock, the protagonist of Borges’ El Etnógrafo (1969), this rite of passage is a break and a crossing: a break from anthropology’s traditional forms of expression and a crossing into the realm of visual art. 

Over the past three decades, moving across Italy, Mexico, and the United States, Professor Montezemolo has challenged the idea of individual research to value intersubjective and collaborative practices, crossing geopolitical, metaphorical, and disciplinary borders.

Following the stages of Borges’ short story, this publication traces the itinerary of Montezemolo’s anthropological and artistic research, unveiling a vibrant archive comprising people encountered in person, places lived, research carried out in the field, and symbolic and physical trespassings that trained the artist’s gaze and empathy towards reality.

Presenting an ample selection of artworks, archival and photographic research material, reprinted and original writings by the artist and/or other people, Hidden in Plain Sight is an auto-anthology carefully curated to reveal the rich tapestry of Montezemolo’s diverse work.

Recently published by Nero Editions, the project was made possible thanks to the support of the Italian Council (XI edition, 2022), a program for the international promotion of Italian art by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture.