The FILA headquarters in Corsier-sur-Vevey will host a photo exhibition entited "Wrestling" and "Wrestlers" by the Italian photographer Olivio Argenti (www.olivioargenti.it) from 15 September to 15 November 2008.

Mr. Argenti spent two years travelling the world trying to capture the wrestlers' everyday life. His highly emotional work features wrestlers from Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, Georgia, Guinea, Italy, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Jordan, Madagascar, Morocco, Peru, Senegal, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkey, Venezuela, Uzbekistan and many others. In the course of the exhibition, you will be confronted to strain, joy, pain, or satisfaction and all those raw emotions give a particular intensity to Mr. Argenti's work, as expressed by Francesco Zizola, famous Italian photoreporter: "Argenti let himself be swept away by the wind of memory. He was able to narrate through images the distant origin of this sport and be an intermediary, with great intensity, between a world known by us and a world which our eyes cannot see."

The opening of the exhibition will take place on Saturday, 12 September from 6 pm, in presence of the photographer who will show a video presentation of his work and give a guided tour of the exhibition.

The book "Wrestling" from which a great part of the exhibition is taken was published by the "Lussoso Group" and was officially presented during the FILA gala dinner that took place in Beijing on 21 August 2008. FILA is proud to support this project, as expressed by the FILA President, Mr. Raphaël Martinetti, in his foreword: "Olivio Argenti's artistic project represents an important contribution to Olympic wrestling and to the efforts made by FILA to spot light on an ancient discipline often ignored by all media." The photographer also intends to publish a second book entitled "Wrestlers", a few portraits of which will also be shown during the exhibition.