Of Mariateresa Ripolo
Shots that immortalize an everyday life that almost seems to have been suddenly interrupted. The cracks on the walls corroded by time, the worn furniture, blankets and mattresses on the floors, the unkempt grass outside and the rusty railings. Inside a house, the issue of a magazine that seals the memory of a date: 1981. All photographic shots set in the abandoned village of Ferruzzano which are part of the exhibition “Drawing with light. The story of places through the lens” created by the young photographer Giuseppe Vottari and set up at the Literary Café “Mario La Cava” in Bovalino.
The event was enriched by a debate in which, in addition to the author of the photos, the professor also took part Pasquale Casilehistorian, Greek researcher, vice-president of the cultural association “Magna Grecia Pieve Emanuele”, e Pasquale Blefaricouncilor for culture of the municipality of Bovalino.
In the photos taken in Ferruzzano and beyond, the story of abandonment is central. A precious treasure of images captured and reproduced whose common thread is the attention to those villages long neglected and forgotten, but capable of telling a story and preserving a memory that must be remembered and passed down. Deep roots that speak of an identity that needs to be reclaimed.
«These shots arise from curiosity and the pleasure of visiting these abandoned villages which always have something to tell. In the case of Ferruzzano it was a pleasant discovery, I found myself practically touching the history of those who lived there. Entering inside the houses I was able to understand many things about the families who lived in the village”, explained Giuseppe Vottari, who also took numerous shots in places such as Roghudi, Careri, San Luca.
Among the villages in Locride that have managed to be reborn through their history and identity is that of Sant’Agata del Bianco, birthplace of the writer Saverio Strati. «Giuseppe Vottari confirms to us that knowing how to look at places, physically going there, is a first form of opposition to destruction and carelessness, since, too often, we are not aware of the space we inhabit and how we inhabit it. And so “knowing how to look” can help us reclaim a street, a house or a history”: Mayor Domenico Stranieri, one of the speakers, said through a message, but he was unable to take part in the event.
«Giuseppe with these photos – explained councilor Blefari – gave us a gift: it allowed us to talk about their artistic side, but it also allowed us to talk about the recovery of the villages and above all the recovery of identity and memory . We must focus on this, which can also be a form of economic and tourist development, but it must be our moral and cultural obligation, that of recovering places, recovering memories and bringing forward these new generations of artists and scholars” .
Photo [dal greco greco ϕωτο-, derivazione di ϕῶς ϕωτός «luce». Grafìa [dal greco -γραϕία, derivazione di γράϕω «scrivere, disegnare»]. Thus the title of the exhibition was born.
Deep reflection on the concept of “light” proposed by Professor Casile, who highlighted the importance of memory through language, a concept that is inextricably linked to that of identity and courage: «Memory for us is living memory of the Calabrian Greek language. Words are voices that send us back to our history and therefore to these images, the invisible part becomes visible when we write in Greek. Let’s think about the verb “thárreo”, which means “to remember”, but means “to have courage”. Inside this Calabrian Greek verb there is thárros, there is courage. There is that truth that imposes itself through the strength of actions, the pride we have for our culture and our language is strong.”
