form of relational rationality it resists the dominant transactional rationality of capitalism through globalisation as a form of modernity that might otherwise make its adherence to custom appear conservative and regressive. Expressive actions such as this ritual confer a sense of belonging and help reinforce group identity without its capitulation to the primal forces of tribalism that are at odds with the progressive concerns of social structures and adherence to civic duty.25

I want to end with a brief consideration of a large series of portraits in Strength and Splendour that seem to convey the sociality of the ritual. The design of the machine changes every five years but the new model is only unveiled to the facchini just before the ritual is about to begin, in the darkness of night and with the entire town watching on. Masi has captured this moment when these men, faced with the new monument, are at once in awe of its splendour and aghast at the challenge it presents. In these images we see the facchini embracing each other but unlike the photographs of the Palio the light that emanates in these photographs metaphorically references the illuminated machine, as it is unveiled, without any streetlight to compete with its splendour. The bright white of the facchini’s clothing echoing this divine symbolism also conveys the fraternity of the group as a publicly acknowledged membership carrying within their collective strength the promise of upholding the town’s civic and cultural pride. They are illuminated then by their collective hopes and desires, their aspirations as a group to dutifully serve the townspeople through their strength of mind, body and will. These images are fragments of hope and goodwill, crucial to the formation of trust and solidarity without which any collective desire can remain only a dream. Like the photographs of individuals in the Palio there is invariably a single individual who faces us, staring out from the group. In this instance the faces that are turned towards us are only half glimpsed in the darkness of night but are illuminated by the white clothing of the many ‘brothers’ in whose embrace each of them is caught. The intimacy we see then, is shared by a group within a group; our presence though not unwelcome is that of intruders, witnessing but unable to experience the collective drawing together of emotional and physical strength necessary to face the challenge ahead that comes with the responsibility of being one of a privileged few.

25 Nicholas Bourriaud’s highly influential account of a so-called ‘relational aesthetics’ is nonetheless confined to an account of art rather than long held traditions of this kind. My interpretation of this ritual as a form of intervention on existing economic structures has little direct connection with Bourriaud’s concept. Rather it is indebted to the notion of relational rationality outlined in Nan Lin’s account of forms of social exchange; Lin, ibid., pp .247-9.

Amna Malik

2004