AFTER THE photograph, followed by cinematic motion pictures were invented in the late 19th and early 20th Century a new realistic and contemplative human self awareness emerged. And so did a whole new role for the value of beauty and meaning in our lives. Whose beauty? Not just that of our personal selves, but others, specifically those who made a profession out of the projection of images of themselves in still photos and motion pictures.
Whose meaning? Not just that which the ‘Star’ actor/actress projects in photo, cinema, or TV screen, but the meaning received and felt by the viewer.

The exploited photo
Both the originality and value, however, of such ‘beauty’ and ‘meaning’ have been significantly reduced by the mass technical sharing of how our images are preserved by still photos and motion pictures, since the creative process is no longer the monopoly of artists, but is now technically the possession of anyone via commercial sales.
Because the art process has become commercialised by the easy availability of its technical equipment for amateur play (and certainly some genuine artists can emerge this way), professionals dedicated to deep knowledge of the cinematic medium must cling to those artists whose beauty and meaning defined standards, both personal and professional, to guide and measure themselves by.

Enter Silvana Mangano
Silvana Mangano remains one of the most beautiful and intriguing actresses whose photographic and cinematic oeuvre defined the essence of creative standards in self-image projection and acting.
Mangano, from the start of her film career in 1950 with ‘BITTER RICE’, projected the aura of a theme that lit up a series of roles, many brief, or not leading roles, but with an unforgettable and spirited relationship between quietude and passion, creativity and exhibitionism, sanctity and sensuality, sophisticated reserve and permissiveness. In short, the significant silently sanguine relations between body and soul. In fact, in thinking about Mangano, we would be fickle to ignore the very human genesis of this remarkable and unique actress if we did not recognise the inherent preciousness of birth itself as the primary or ultimate creative result of the procreative act.

Ancestry and gifts
Whatever the circumstances which resulted in Silvana Mangano’s 1930 birth in Italy to a Sicilian father – a railroad worker – and an English mother, we are aware today of both her physical beauty and projected mental identity being clearly rooted in the combination of her two parents, one with a distinct sunny Mediterranean Southern Italian flavour, and the other with a cool, fair, northern European English reserve.
There is no doubt that Mangano’s special qualities as a human entity were rooted in such an origin, but her power as a dancer and actress represents an individual talent far beyond mere inherited cultural styles and ethnic traits. Mangano asserts the value of creativity projected as a preserved, even essential human quality via the framework of still photo and cinematic mobility. The art-form adds to her identity.

Black-and-white mastery
She is a glorious study in black-and-white film, as though the very dual dark and light material qualities of such film is the perfect medium for balancing the visible and invisible aspects of body and soul. In one early professional photo, Mangano has one hand in her hair, against her head, and her gaze is slightly away from either photographer or viewer; she is far from pandering to anyone, she is concerned only with indicating her inner and outer identity. The photo comes alive with its own identity as a work of art.