Born in 1959 in Sicily, Franco Mammana first became interested in photography in 1980 working as photographer Maurizio Buscarino’s assistant in the theatre in Bergamo, Northern Italy.    As a self-taught photographer, he focussed his activity on social documentary, landscape, architecture and travel, publishing his photographic reports on several magazines and newspapers.    In 1985 he received a grant to study photo-journalism and went on to have several works published. In the late 80’s his experience in landscape and architectural photography led him to produce a series of images of his birthplace in Noto in Sicily, which were printed as postcards. Following this a further series was based in his home town, Bergamo, and he began to turn his attention towards this type of commercial production.    His great and continuing passion for kites directed him towards the major international kite festivals taking spectacular and unusual images and showing his works in a lot of solo exhibitions  in Italy and abroad.  He held his first solo exhibition in 1994 in Cervia, Italy, a small town on the Adriatic coast which is known worldwide as one of the most important centre for kites, selling all the photos.    In 2001 he takes part in the WIND CARAVAN PROJECT by the japanese sculptur Susumu Shingu following him to Mongolia and Brasil. Some years later, in 2005,  his photos of that experience and those ones of a mobile sculpture used in “Toss of a dice” stage, performance by the czech choreographer Jiri Kylian, were published in the Shingu’s Monography.    In 2003  he shoots the pictures published on the book “VIA APPIA ANTICA” (Arsenale Editrice), historical and archeologic route from Rome to Brindisi.   Since 2007 he comes up to Polaroid world, taking part in several networks and to collective exhibitions to promote its survival and rebirth of instant photography.     Franco Mammana