VOLTIDO – The cemetery was embellished with a pictorial work by Hello Marte, alias Marcello Roveda, a well-known ‘writer & mural artist’, originally from Milan but resident in Castelvetro Piacentino, who has already worked in 44 countries around the world. This is an unprecedented operation, desired by mayor Giorgio Borghetti, to embellish the cemetery with a work by an international mural artist, coming from the world of graffiti and street art. Everything was authorized by the Superintendence and financed with funds from the Pnrr, such as the two squares of the capital and Recorfano and the multipurpose structure of the leisure centre.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
«He told me Marcello’s name the parish priest of Torre de’ Picenardi, Don Claudio Rossi, for which the artist has created some works. He also finished a graffiti course for the ‘Ghisleri’ kids with whom he created a mural at the school – explains Borghetti -. Here there was a large free wall, next to a noble chapel, which lent itself to the operation and in my opinion the result is truly beautiful. In essence it is a fresco that proposes the image of the good merciful shepherd, as described in Psalm 23 of the Bible. The mural, which measures 3.5 by 2.5 metres, was made on a layer of biolime.”
The mayor of Voltido Giorgio Borghetti and the artist Hello Marte alias Marcello Roveda
UNPUBLISHED WORK
Roveda is also satisfied with the result: «It’s the first time ever that I find myself painting something in a cemetery. It was a stimulating challenge and I am very happy with the outcome.” Hello Marte, born in Milan in 1982, approached the world of graffiti in 1996. In 2011 he started travelling, initially for invited festivals, then mostly for commissioned works. His journey began with writing, for which he developed a complete technique. In his career he invented several styles, recognized internationally.
THE CARREER
«At the moment – he says – I have painted in 44 states on 4 continents, traveling on average 6 months a year in the last decade. At least once a year I travel between the USA, Brazil, Mexico and West Africa.”
He participated in three editions of Art Basel in Miami (2015, 2016, 2018), he was the first European to participate in the sector festival with the most artists in the world (‘meeting of favelas’ 2014, in Rio de Janeiro), the first Italian to participate in the São Paulo street art biennial (2018), the first Italian to be invited to be part of the largest open-air art gallery in the world (MAAU, 2018), also in São Paulo. «One of the greatest satisfactions – he says – was when, in 2019, I was invited to paint the first Italian embassy in the world, in Dakar, Senegal. Here in Voltido I was inspired by a devotional image that was reported to me by the mayor».
OTHER INTERVENTIONS
Borghetti underlines how the intervention is part of a series of works which have led to the gradual arrangement of various points of the cemetery: «A skylight made of colored glass was recently placed at the top of the ossuary. Then we had the shape of a cross created on one wall to give more light to a part of the niches and a perspective towards the greenery beyond the wall: the ‘mystery of the beyond’. Furthermore, we have started stabilization and painting works.”
