From 5 October at the Maxxi the exhibition on the poor man of Assisi: contemporary interpretation of an eternal message Father Enzo Fortunato «Photo-writing is writing with light. This would be enough to explain the reason for the project “
«They give us the greatest pleasure the fragments, and it is not by chance that in life we feel the greatest pleasure when life itself appears to us as a fragment, and how horrifying everything is for us, how horrible, after all, is the perfection of all that is accomplished ». This was the sentence of the Austrian writer, playwright, poet and journalist Thomas Bernhard (1931 – 1989), in one of his latest novels, Antichi Maestri (released in 1985, published in Italy by Adelphi in 1992).
And he also speaks of fragments the exhibition which opens on 5 October (until 24 October) in the Spazio Corner del Maxxi, the National Museum of XXI Century Arts in Rome. First of all because the fragments at the center of the exhibition are those “stolen” from an exceptional existence, that of San Francesco, the poor man of Assisi. Then because the Roman exhibition is inspired by the (painted) interpretation that the great Giotto had given (between 1292 and 1305) of those fragments of life, which he stopped in the frescoes of the upper Basilica of Assisi. And finally, because twelve protagonists of contemporary photography now give a contemporary interpretation of those same fragments from the life of St. Francis.
Marina Alessi, Silvia Amodio, Maria Vittoria Backaus, Fabio Bonanno, Settimio Benedusi, Francesco Cito, Angelo Ferrillo, Franco Fontana, Giovanni Gastel, Efrem Raimondi, Ferdinando Scianna, Oliviero Toscani: these are the protagonists of the exhibition Francis yesterday and today, 100 years of Franciscan communication and culture which also wants to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first issue of the magazine «San Francesco». On the occasion of the centenary, the editorial staff and the friars of the Sacred Convent of Assisi then organized a series of meetings dedicated to the communication and importance of the figure of the saint and his travels in Italy and around the world.
In his scenes, Giotto (to whom the Stories are now universally attributed despite the opposition of scholars such as Federico Zeri and Bruno Zanardi) had wanted to tell the story of Francesco in order to make his figure close and current, moving away from the lesson of his teacher Cimabue. To do this he would have developed a new pictorial language, clear, immediate and effective, giving volume to his figures, filling their garments with the solidity of real bodies, giving expression to their faces, skilfully playing with light (especially with chiaroscuro), applying with progressive safety the perspective. A modernity that in 12 photographs they have shown that they fully share.
«The images of this exhibition – he explains father Enzo Fortunato, director of the magazine “San Francesco” – wish to recall the importance of ensuring that communication is to tell and tell about oneself: yesterday, with the frescoes of the Basilica, the first color film; today, with photography in a society that loves to communicate a lot with images and too often in commercials. The photographs collected are not commercials, but an authentic moment of reflection, which helps us to reflect on ourselves, with a double movement: looking up and looking inside. Looking up is what each one of us is called to be, a photograph of God. Looking within to grasp the potential we have and set our hands on the most beautiful construction site that God desires of us. Francis of Assisi managed to be one of the most beautiful images of God ».
This is how it goes on stage at Maxxi a new sacredness of images, made of different styles, in black and white or in colors united in the story of San Francesco imagined by Giotto, a story (revolutionary for the time) that goes beyond the lesson of Cimabue, with framed scenes and divided between them by a series of columns that simulate a loggia (taking up the layout of the mosaics in the dome of the Baptistery of Florence).
“In the footsteps of Francis, on the plurality of languages and on the exaltation of every technological means as a” gift “- explains the curator of the exhibition Andrea Cova -, Franciscanism has decided to fully adopt every communication tool, as a direct means, immediate, interactive and participatory. From the paper magazine to the use of the internet, finding full correspondence in the Franciscan idea of interactivity: the dream of a new shared humanism. This exhibition will be a way to orient the viewer among the modern shots and Giotto’s images which tell the life of the saint of Assisi ».
The choice of episodes by the twelve photographers it appears personal, private, close to everyone’s sensitivity: Angelo Ferrillo and Ferdinando Scianna have both chosen to confront themselves with Il Miracolo della Fonte; Efrem Raimondi with The Sermon to the Birds; Fabio Bonanno with the approval of the Rule; Francesco Cito with The dream of Innocent III; Franco Fontana with The renunciation of possessions; Giovanni Gastel (who passed away last March) with The death of the Knight of Celano; Maria Vittoria Backaus with L’estasi; Marina Alessi with La prova del fuoco; Oliviero Toscani with the crib of Greccio; Settimio Benedusi with Il Pianto delle Clarisse; Silvia Amodio with The liberation of the heretic Pietro di Alife.
«Photo-writing is writing with light – concludes Father Enzo Fortunato -. This statement would be enough to explain why on the centenary of the monthly we entrusted twelve photographers to interpret the Franciscan message with one of their works. Our job was to juxtapose a detail of a fresco by Giotto on the life of the saint and Franciscan spirituality, to underline how much the thought of Francis is timeless. These photographs contain a message that reaches each of us ».
© Time.News
September 30, 2021 (change September 30, 2021 | 17:01)
© Time.News