A series inspired by collectible traditions — Pokemon and Panini – bringing together art, history, and a bit of playful curiosity.

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I MISTERI della

FOTOGRAFIA

POSTCARDS

Photo Diary from the Senigallia Biennale – The Mysteries of Photography: Postcards for a New Generation

“I Misteri della Fotografia” (“The Mysteries of Photography”) is a growing collection of art postcards (“cartoline”) that invite the curious—and the nostalgic—into the enigmas of photographic history. Published to date in Italian, the project consists of three series, each with 12 individual postcards and a bonus “mystery card,” making for 39 numbered collectibles to be discovered, exchanged, and assembled.

This project is rooted in three distinct cultural traditions:

Popular Science Publishing: For more than 150 years, Louis Figuier’s “Les Merveilles de la Science” has inspired readers through its clear explanations and sometimes delightfully naïve illustrations—visuals that make even the most complex topics feel approachable.

School Rewards and Chromolithographs: The tradition of colorful chromolithographs and “bons points,” handed out to schoolchildren as rewards well into the 20th century, encouraged a first generation of image collectors—small tokens to accumulate and trade among classmates.

Pokémon Cards and Panini Football Stickers: Drawing from the modern culture of collectible games and series such as Pokémon cards and Panini football portraits, the project echoes the anticipation, enjoyment, and social exchange integral to completing a set—now applied to the world of photographic and image history.

Each card is a mixed-media work: collage, engraving, gouache retouching, with occasional manual additions, unified by both a digital foundation and careful documentation, grounded in physical reality.

MYT-5 – In Cairo, Alhazen Ibn al-Haytham demonstrates that a camera obscura with a small aperture produces clear, inverted images. He explains that light travels in straight lines. The Kitāb al-Manāẓir (The Book of Optics) was completed around 1021 (412 Hegire).

After years spent investigating the history of photography, certain advantages of digital technologies have emerged quietly but clearly. Their true value is perhaps most evident when artificial intelligence is asked not to invent or embellish according to its own tendencies or popular taste, but rather to accurately translate and reconstruct materials already assembled and analyzed with care.

Such an approach preserves the integrity and detail of the original research, safeguarding both the creative process and the intentions behind every image. Here, traditional and digital methods are less rivals than partners—each contributing distinct strengths to the task of sharing established ideas through a broader, more accessible visual language.

A particular emphasis has been placed on the validation of faces for various historical figures in the story of photography. Wherever possible, efforts were made to ensure that the visual representations corresponded closely to the scant surviving documents—portraits, engravings, and early photographs—of these individuals.

When original documentation was limited or ambiguous, each image underwent comparison with all credible sources available, however fragmentary.

MYT-X – Anticipation of the invention, 1760, translated next year in English and German. In the novel Giphantia, a traveler discovers a land where images fix themselves onto a sensitive surface. A transparent substance captures light, and each scene remains imprinted forever. The author, Tiphaigne de la Roche, anticipates, two generations ahead of his time, the principles of chemical photography, direct printing — and even cinema and television.

In summary, the approach prioritizes methodical verification and historical compatibility, valuing precise and responsible interpretation above invention or embellishment—especially in the representation of faces, where identity and authenticity are central.

Every print is signed by the artist, Pavel Nicotine, ensuring its place within “The Mysteries of Photography” series. This year’s illustrations were developed together with friends and students, whose input and validation shaped the final selection.

Series and Packaging:

So far, three series of 12 postcards each have been released, with one bonus mystery card per series—making a total of 39 postcards.

The postcards are available in plain envelopes, each containing a random assortment of 12 cards drawn from all series. This arrangement encourages collecting and swapping, inviting participants to complete their sets through both discovery and exchange.

Forthcoming dedicated albums will let collectors organize, display, and exchange their cards—echoing the communal collecting experience of classic sticker and reward cards.

If you’d like to know more or wish to track your collection, a page on the Atelier 41 website presents full checklists for the first three series, additional background, and notes on the project’s evolving themes.