Calò Alessandra
CTONIO
In this photographic series created in the extraordinary setting of the Mediterranean, Alessandra Calò tries once again – in a poetic and evocative way – to use the photographic medium as a tool to document the state of the places but above all to dig into memory and leverage the need to re-establish that ancestral bond that binds man to nature. It is no coincidence that the title of the project Ctonio accompanies us in a dimension where dialogue with the place cannot be separated from a reflection on identity.
The importance of nature – today more than ever perceivable in the contemporary Mediterranean landscape – leads the artist to question the history that lies behind the infinite expressions that it offers to the gaze, in an attempt to reclaim the spaces generated by man.
The importance of nature – today more than ever perceivable in the contemporary Mediterranean landscape – leads the artist to question the history that lies behind the infinite expressions that it offers to the gaze, in an attempt to reclaim the spaces generated by man.
Alessandra Calò "Ctonio"
Subscribe and read about photography! This will help us to produce more quality material exclusively for our subscribers!
By clicking on the button, you consent to the processing of your personal data
CTONIO
In the last century, economic policies have encouraged the occupation and exploitation of territories, progressively erasing most of the characteristic features of the Mediterranean area to outline new ones. The rapid transformations of the territory have produced the current image of a 'hollow' landscape, characterized by areas disfigured for the exploitation of the raw material: the limestone (calcarenite).
Starting from the assumption that man has always been accustomed to seeing Nature from the point of view of profit, we realize that he rarely notices the relationship that exists with the complexity of the environment of which he is part. He is therefore inclined to believe that nature is domesticated by exploiting it to benefit as long as there is an advantage.
At the end of the 50s, the phenomenon of migration to less hostile places and more profitable jobs led to the depopulation of vast areas and the population was literally replaced by an important wild presence, which reappropriated the space, re-establishing that complex and self-sufficient ecosystem that only the enigmatic law of Nature could re-establish.
In the last century, economic policies have encouraged the occupation and exploitation of territories, progressively erasing most of the characteristic features of the Mediterranean area to outline new ones. The rapid transformations of the territory have produced the current image of a 'hollow' landscape, characterized by areas disfigured for the exploitation of the raw material: the limestone (calcarenite).
Starting from the assumption that man has always been accustomed to seeing Nature from the point of view of profit, we realize that he rarely notices the relationship that exists with the complexity of the environment of which he is part. He is therefore inclined to believe that nature is domesticated by exploiting it to benefit as long as there is an advantage.
At the end of the 50s, the phenomenon of migration to less hostile places and more profitable jobs led to the depopulation of vast areas and the population was literally replaced by an important wild presence, which reappropriated the space, re-establishing that complex and self-sufficient ecosystem that only the enigmatic law of Nature could re-establish.
"Starting from the assumption that man has always been accustomed to seeing Nature from the point of view of profit, we realize that he rarely notices the relationship that exists with the complexity of the environment of which he is part"
The space that was once a "crossroads and place of planning" is now regenerated and returns – in the richness of its vegetation – the sedimented memory of those who lived there and made it a unique place.
The underground garden thus becomes the symbolic door through which artistic practice passes: the morphological and anthropological study of the territory, the discovery of ancient native plant species, give us confirmation of the existence of an ancient dormant but never broken bond, which still retains the warmth between the sun-beaten stones and the deafening silence of wild nature.
The underground garden thus becomes the symbolic door through which artistic practice passes: the morphological and anthropological study of the territory, the discovery of ancient native plant species, give us confirmation of the existence of an ancient dormant but never broken bond, which still retains the warmth between the sun-beaten stones and the deafening silence of wild nature.