SALMAN ALIGHIERO BOETTI Format: Paperback

This catalog for a show at Tornabuoni Art in Milan sheds new light and offers previously unpublished material on the close relationship between Alighiero Boetti and his longtime Afghan assistant and friend, Salman Ali. They met in Kabul in 1971, and traveled to Rome two years later. Their initial collaboration rapidly evolved into a far more intense relationship: not simply as assistant, but as a close member of the family. This exhibition features the private collection of works given to Ali by Boetti, and substantial photographic and documentary archives that illuminate their close friendship, working relationship, travels, and everyday life. Included here is a biographical essay by Ali, in addition to texts by Clino Trini Castelli, Bruno Corà and Giorgio Colombo.

Text in English and Italian.

Salman Ali was born in Jaghiri (Afghanistan) in 1948. At 18, he left for Kandahar for his military service, then moved to Kabul where he began work at Alighiero Boetti’s One Hotel in 1971. In 1973, Boetti invited Salman to live in Rome, where he continued to work with the artist, but was also a close member of the family. He traveled everywhere with Boetti; he worked as his assistant in his studio, was responsible for running the family home and even looked after the children. In short, his work was “to see that everything ran smoothly so that the boss had no worries”. Even after Boetti’s death, Salman Ali maintained his close relationships with the Boetti family. Today he works at the Fondazione Alighiero e Boetti in Milan.