Wulz sisters' subversive lens resurfaces in Italy's memory wars

A Guardian feature this week has brought renewed international attention to Wanda and Marion Wulz, the Trieste-based photography sisters who used their studio, their lens and even their cat Mucincina to defy the patriarchy of fascist Italy. The article, which draws on the work of academic Federica Muzzarelli, describes how the sisters shot dancers, fencers and other famous women in the 1920s and 30s — a quiet act of rebellion in an era when, in Muzzarelli's words, "women were not free. They were regarded as mothers and homemakers."

The Wulz sisters operated from the northeastern port city of Trieste, far from the salons of Rome and Milan, yet their portraits travelled. Their most famous image — a self-portrait of Wanda with the family cat Mucincina held above her head, its tail forming a defiant moustache — was a direct and witty jab at Mussolini's cult of masculinity. The Guardian notes the image has become an enduring symbol of artistic resistance to totalitarianism.

For Naples, the story of the Wulz sisters carries a particular resonance. This is a city that produced its own generation of women artists and photographers who worked under the same oppressive regime, often without recognition. The international spotlight on the Wulz sisters invites a broader question about how Italy remembers the women who resisted fascism, and how many of their stories remain untold.