Saturday 22 June, on the occasion of the Luminaria in Borgo del Ponte, the exhibition will be held Which Border by photographer Massimo Matelli. The event will be from 9pm at Palazzo Pitone, located in via Palestro, right at the entrance to Borgo del Ponte.
Which Border is not just a series of photographs, but a visual story that passes through the experiences of many migrants. It all started almost by chance, as often happens with the most beautiful ideas. During a visit, Luca Mosti and Marco Oddone noticed some photos taken by Massimo Matelli during a trip to Kenya in 2006. From there the idea was born of creating a path that started from those images to get to the stories of the migrants in Marina di Carrara. «The expressions in the photos -explains Matelli referring in particular to the shots in Kenya- they may appear happy, but they often hide a life of sacrifice, pain and poverty. Many of these people then choose to leave. Risking everything, even their lives, to seek a better future. The exhibition aims to show this duality: an apparent happiness that hides a very harsh reality.”
The collection of images tries to highlight the contrast between emotions and experiences, also through the chromatic contrast: on the one hand the difficult life of migrants, on the other the hope of a new beginning. «We have photos of babies as young as a few months old -says Matelli- and if a mother reaches the point of risking her child’s life, it means that the situation is truly desperate. Our goal is to raise public awareness of these realities, without falling into the spectacularization of pain”.
There are around 50 photos and they will be displayed along a path in the garden, culminating under a gazebo where the images of the migrants will be collected.
Matelli chose not to represent pain in a dramatic way, but to tell the stories with simplicity and respect, making the experiences understandable and touching for both adults and children. Hence the name Which Confine: not only geographical, but also psychological and emotional which at the same time seeks to shine a spotlight on this exodus of people.
