For the second consecutive year, the Cathedral of Massa confirms reference scenario for photographic exhibitions of absolute pre-eminence, serving now as an increasingly significant crossroads in the international art scene.
The Diocese of Massa Carrara - Pontremoli welcomed enthusiastically, providing the prestigious spaces of the cathedral and offering its valuable cooperation that has asked a group of selected photographers along with Area35 Art Gallery, to grapple with the issue of inclusion: it a cycle is born, "Geographies of the look. For a new inclusion iconography.
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The event, under the patronage of the Regional Council of Tuscany Region, will be inaugurated by exposure "Humanitas" Paul Topy Lipstick, vernissage on April 8 next, with the participation of Alice Procopio as a curator and includes a succession of multiple events until the end of this year.
The inclusion through #fotografia
'' Inclusion is the principle which has a profound relevance in today's society, subjected to migration impetuous, characterized by cultural rifts that seem to expand, a growing gap between those who are socially and economically integrated and those who are excluded, and where diversity, in any form, go sostanziandosi, it tends to be perceived as a weakness or minus res than the paradigms of reference to which instead, according to what people say, it should assimilate - explained Riccardo Fini, project coordinator -.
Inclusion is a concept that yearns to be characterized as a universal principle: everyone has the right to be included, that is to be welcomed with their differences in the context in which they are called to live, without necessarily involving the assimilation of a cultural mainstream that, as advocated by most, it would be of a higher order, but, instead, as an expression of a specific historical context, assumes a lower ontological relevance to the guiding principle.
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A location of excellence
The Chapel of the Stigmata, baptistery of our Massa Cathedral, welcomed thousands of pilgrims throughout the year that Pope Francis wanted dedicated to Mercy, the love of the Father. From this same place, it is now proposed a cultural journey, visual, artistic fact of different #mostre photographic joined together by a theme: inclusion.
This word brings us right to the end of the Jubilee, in which Pope Francis has described the inclusion as an "important aspect of mercy." "For God - continues the pope - in his plan of love, do not want to exclude anyone, but wants to include everyone. And we Christians are encouraged to use the same criteria: mercy is the way you act, the style with which we try to incorporate into our lives the other, avoiding too close in on ourselves and our selfish securities.
This aspect of mercy, inclusion, manifested in her arms open wide to welcome not excluding; not classify others according to social status, language, race, culture, religion: in front of us there is only one person to love as God loves.
"The theme of" inclusion "and the Pope's words there help in connecting the current year with the originality of what is past, the images presented in the exhibition with the places where they are placed: the baptistery as a place of welcome for all who seek the Life; the burial ground as meditation in the waiting silence of the Resurrection; the cloister as a journey into the invisible world of the Spirit; the refectory as a place of brotherhood and sharing. This intense artistic itinerary will thus be able to experience the inclusion as a rejection of the "culture of waste", openness to dialogue, overcoming prejudices, looking for what is beyond the visible, then the mystery of the Other.
An important effort and a significant responsibility to Giacomo Marco Valerio, deus ex machina of 35 Area Art Gallery "It 'an honour for Area35 gallery in Milan have been asked to indicate the artists of the event in question.
A theme of profound social thickness, today, and the great interest that imposes strict choices of the quality of works and the skills of the artists. The selection, an internationally recognised, is marked by a rigorous search of the poetic that mark in limited series and refined, a succession of themes presented with quality and maturity that well characterise the resolution of the chosen topic. France, Italy and Japan, each artist will bring to light its response to the issue of social inclusion through photography, a medium that today has entered the language of the multitude, but which, with its long life and history, multi-faceted forms, from film to digital, from the traditional darkroom to the interpretative variety of Camera Lucida, today's "light room".
The variety of responses and the different affinities of the artists are an effective imitation of the topics covered; all of them combine to form a rich and diverse exhibition journey, a formative experience in thickness and an opportunity to understand the role of photography as a tool for art. #duomo mass
