Founded in 2022, Palermo Publishing operates at the intersection of photography, the visual arts, and critical thinking, engaging with a poetics of the margins and fostering dialogue across disciplines. This conversation offers an in-depth look at the press’s ethos through the personal and editorial journey of its founder, Michela Palermo, joined in dialogue by Miwa Susuda.

Drawing on her background in critical studies and photography, Michela will trace the development of Palermo Press, beginning with her involvement with the Archivio Flaccovio (Palermo, Italy), which led to the creation of the Cartoline di Sicilia box set. The discussion will extend to her collaboration with Allen Frame, whose early work from the 1970s and 80s remains largely underrated despite the monograph Fever (Matte Editions, 2021), which focused exclusively on his photographs from 1981. Her close engagement with his archive led to the publication of Whereupon (2022), a meticulously composed book of nearly 60 duotone and color plates that provides essential insight into Frame’s visual research.

The presentation will also explore the fluid and collective nature of independent publishing as it unfolds across multiple projects and artistic collaborations. These include the development of ALBUM 900 by Lucia Pescador, an exploration of personal and collective memory through archival images from the 20th century, and the recent publication of Songs for the Birds and The Lonely by Dietmar Busse. Both books reflect on the changing role of images in contemporary visual culture: Pescador’s work is rooted in her personal archive, activating decades of collected imagery through artistic research, while Busse’s book dissolves the boundary between photography and painting, offering an intimate and experimental approach to portraiture.

Palermo Publishing’s commitment to expanding the dialogue between publishing and contemporary photography has led to collaborations with institutions such as the Museo Civico di Castelbuono (Palermo, Italy), which is actively expanding its photography collection with a special focus on the surrounding area. Together they are developing a series of catalogues dedicated to the museum’s collection, further deepening the conversation between photography, publishing, and contemporary art.

The evening will conclude with a book signing with Allen Frame and Dietmar Busse.

Michela Palermo is a publisher, designer and photographer working in independent publishing. In 2022, she founded Palermo Publishing, a press that operates at the intersection of photography, visual arts, and critical thinking, with a focus on the poetics of the margin and the book as a space for research and experimentation. She has worked in photography and editorial design for nearly a decade. She graduated in Political Science from the University of Bologna in 2006, with an academic background rooted in critical theory and gender studies, fields that have deeply influenced her approach to photography and publishing. After graduating, she attended the Creative Practice Program at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York, where she furthered her research into the medium of photography. Through Palermo Publishing, she continues to develop a publishing model that fosters the intersection of disciplines and artistic practices, with a particular emphasis on experimentation and visual research.

Miwa Susuda has been a key figure in the photobook industry for over 20 years, serving as a photobook consultant at Dashwood Books in NYC, an instructor at the Penumbra Foundation, and the founder and director of Session Press. She has participated in exhibitions, art fairs, and museum programs worldwide, including Vertical Assembly with Lesley A. Martin, CONTACT Photo, the Tokyo Art Book Fair, the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, NY.