The project Creature di Sabbia, funded by the Apulia Region - Welfare Department, on the call Puglia Capitale sociale 3.0., entered the heart of its activities with an unprecedented and intense artist residency on gender equality and women's violated rights twelve years after the Arab Spring.
All the activities of the residency, all aimed at completing a process of both artistic and social awareness and education on human rights through art, took place from 23 to 27 May 2023.
The dense programme of work, with workshops and moments of dialectical and experiential confrontation, unfolded between the 'S. Castromediano' Museum and the former Palmieri Boarding School - 'N. Bernardini' Library, and was enriched by cultural events and collateral multidisciplinary meetings aimed at the entire community.
The protagonists were a group of four female artists of Arab Muslim origin and culture - graduates from Fine Arts Academies - and four female peers of similar nationality and religion resident in Lecce and active in the field of intercultural mediation.
The four artists selected from among those who responded to the Call sent to all the Italian Academies of Fine Arts and Faculties of Arts and Performing Arts are: Mehrnoosh Roshanaei, Iranian, student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, Rafika Ferchichi, Tunisian, enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bari, Salma Hilmi, Moroccan, and Khatereh Safajoo, Iranian, both from the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts in Turin.
The artists were residents together with four female students and cultural workers, also of Arab culture, such as the Afghan sisters Asyra Amani, Latifa Amani and Maliha Amani, trainees within the S.A.I. Reception Project. Union 3 promoted by Cooperativa Rinascita, or Salentine women who have become Muslims, such as the intercultural mediator Nunzia Bushra Todaro, residing in Lecce and all engaged in social studies and mediation activities with the Arab culture, also thanks to the local Islamic community that is a partner in the project. They are joined by Maryam Barak, already winner of a university scholarship within the Culture Builds the Future project, promoted by the Emmanuel Foundation and today Social Media Moderator at the International Rescue Committee (IRC), who lives and works in Rome.
During the Artist Residency, coordinated by Andrea Laudisa and Alice Caracciolo, the participants had the opportunity to put their artistic idea or project to the test, verify it and compare it with Italian lecturers, experts and mediators such as: Luca Bandirali, film critic, senior researcher in cinema, photography, television at the DAMS of the University of Salento and Paolo Pisanelli, director, photographer, screenwriter; Donatella Tanzariello, immigration lawyer and Valeria Carlini, spokesperson and communication manager - Italian Council of Refugees, Rome; Takoua Ben Mohamed, graphic artist, journalist, illustrator, cartoonist; Rossana Gaddi, communication designer, researcher at the Department of Architecture, University of Chieti-Pescara; Raffaella Massacesi, professor of communication design at the University of Chieti-Pescara; Beatrice Bambi, designer; Laleh Davoudi, intercultural mediator; Irene Strazzeri, associate professor of Sociology of Globalisation at the University of Salento and Imam Saifeddine Maaroufi, founder of the Noi Salento Association, lecturer in Comparative Islamic Jurisprudence at the Higher Institute of Islamic Studies in Sesto san Giovanni; Giorgia Salicandro, journalist and writer; Valentina D'Andrea, set designer and illustrator.
The young women were also joined for two mornings (23 and 27 May) by a group of students from the
Liceo Artistico e Coreutico Ciardo Pellegrino in Lecce, chosen from among those who have shown themselves to be sensitive to the issues of social equality, proximity of relations, gender equality and the battle against sexist or racial violence in their last classes.
The work developed during the residency was for the resident artists the starting point for the creation of the works for the final chapter of the project: the
exhibition CREATURE DI SABBIA, scheduled for January 2024.
The title of the project
, CREATURE DI SABBIA, derives from the novel of the same name by Tahar Ben Jelloum, which tells the vicissitudes of a woman who, for various reasons linked to a strongly patriarchal society, pretends to be a man for the rest of her life. In this particular historical moment, it intends to promote gender equality and the empowerment of Mediterranean women, through a combined process of promotion and dissemination of art as an inclusive tool that helps to soothe and heal even the deepest wounds of the soul.
THE PROGRAMME:
23 May, from 9.30 a.m. (public meeting):
Institutional greetings:
- Sen. Adriana Poli Bortone, President of the Euro-Mediterranean Cultural Heritage Agency
- Fabiana Cicirillo - Lecce Municipality's Councillor for Culture
- Valentina Romano - Director of the Puglia Region's Welfare Department
- Maria Antonietta Aiello - University of Salento's Deputy Vice-Chancellor .
10.00 Start of the activitiesIntroduction to the project
Mauro Marino, for the Lecce Bibliomuseum Pole of the Apulia Region,
Ettore Bambi, project's scientific manager
11.00 lectures
Ilaria Guidantoni, journalist, writer, researcher on Mediterranean culture
Attilio Pisano', associate professor of philosophy of law and human rights at the University of Salento
In the
afternoon, from 3.30 p.m. at the
Bernardini Library, the presentation of the residency students: Asyra Amani, Latifa Amani, Maryam Barak, Salma Hilmi, Rafika Ferchichi, Mehrnoosh Roshanaei, Khatereh Safajoo, Nunzia Todaro and the illustration of the residency by curators Andrea Laudisa and Alice Caracciolo.
An Arab culture workshop curated by Ilaria Guidantoni will conclude this first day of work.
On 24 May starting at 9.30 a.m.: (open only to resident artists) the spaces of the Bernardini Library will host a workshop on cinema and video art organised by Luca Bandirali, film critic, senior researcher in cinema, photography, television at the DAMS of the University of Salento, and Paolo Pisanelli, director, photographer, screenwriter.
The afternoon session, with activities opening at 3.30 p.m., reserves a workshop on denied rights for the students, organised by Donatella Tanzariello, immigration lawyer and Valeria Carlini, spokesperson and communication manager - Italian Council for Refugees, Rome
On 25 May at 9.30 a.m. (open only to resident artists) at the Bernardini Library, the day's work will begin with a graphic art workshop organised by Takoua Ben Mohamed, graphic artist, journalist, illustrator, cartoonist, with Rossana Gaddi, communication designer, researcher at the Department of Architecture of the University of Chieti-Pescara and Raffaella Massacesi, professor of communication design at the University of Chieti-Pescara. In the afternoon, starting at 3.30 p.m., the programme includes a Social Art Workshop by Elisa Vladilo, street and public artist, set designer and Beatrice Bambi, designer and Laleh Davoudi, intercultural mediator.
On 26 May (open only to resident artists), work will begin at 9.30 a.m. at the Bernardini Library with a workshop on the Springtime of Women organised by Irene Strazzeri, associate professor of Sociology of Globalisation at the University of Salento, and Imam Saifeddine Maaroufi, founder of the Noi Salento Association, a partner in the project, and professor of Comparative Islamic Jurisprudence at the Higher Institute of Islamic Studies in Sesto san Giovanni. In the afternoon, starting at 3.30 p.m., the students will be involved in a word workshop organised by Giorgia Salicandro, journalist and writer. This will be followed by a drawing workshop organised by Valentina D'Andrea, set designer and illustrator.
On 27 May (public meeting) starting at 10.00 a.m. in the Auditorium of the Sigismondo Castromediano Museum, the final session will be held, open to the participation of the public, with the protagonists being the students and curators who will present the works developed during the internship in residence and the return of the results curated by Irene Strazzeri; Francesca Grisot, PhD in languages, cultures and societies from Ca' Foscari University of Venice, coordinator of the Migration Commission of the Italian National Association of Anthropology Professionals, President of OdV 2030; Lorena Carbonara, professor of language and translation at the University of Calabria - Concorso Lingua Madre.
PUBLIC EVENTSAlongside and complementing the residency activities, the OLTRE I LABORATORI (BEYOND THE WORKSHOPS) review with multidisciplinary sessions and high-profile events:
On 22 May at 8.30 p.m. Ilaria Guidantoni will be the guest of the Rotary Club Lecce, for a conversation on "Return to nature and conflict between men in the walks of Jean-Jacques Rousseau"
On 23 May at 6.00 p.m., the screening of the film "Il mondo a scatti" by Cecilia Mangini and Paolo Pisanelli will be hosted in the Sala Teatrino of the former Convito Palmieri.
On 24 May at 6.30 p.m., Farian Sabahi, Senior Researcher in Contemporary History at the University of Insubria, orientalist, photographer, writer, author of "Noi donne di Teheran" will talk with Alessandra Caiulo, journalist at the Sala Teatrino ex Convitto Palmieri.
On 27 May at 6 p.m., the Complesso degli Agostiniani - Municipality of Lecce, will host the inauguration of the exhibition "Slavery and trafficking: broken lives between Africa and the Americas. A historical reconstruction'.
From 25 to 27 May, the Accademia di Belle Arti in Lecce will host the Festival delle Letterature - Oltre il confine delle parole - talk, exhibitions, presentations, workshops.
From 25 to 28 May, on the occasion of Amnesty International's 62nd anniversary, Amnesty International Lecce presents: Human Rights Portraits, - an exhibition by Gianluca Costantini. Main cloister of the Bernardini Library.
During the residency, there will also be an event dedicated to the youngest children:
Journey in Mama's Language Suitcase with books for the 0-6 age group in 22 different languages and Library on Rights - olo Bibliomuseale di Lecce, Biblioteca interculturale and Terra del Fuoco Mediterranea.
