Pbook presentation Friday 10 February 2023 – 18:00 pm – at the Salotto Letterario Le Zifere (Piazzetta Nilo, 7 – Naples).
Greetings from the publisher Roberto Nicolucci
Discussing it with the author
Prof. Stefano Cause
Art critic and professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History at the Suor Orsola Benincasa University of Naples
Col. a. (ter.) t.ISSMI Joseph Stellato
82nd Colonel Commander of the Nunziatella Military School
Readings by Peppe Lanzetta, playwright, actor and writer
A MIA MADRE is the title of the book by Neapolitan photographer Yvonne De Rosa published by Roberto Nicolucci Editore which will be presented on Friday 10 February at 18 pm at the Salotto Letterario Le Zifere, headquarters of the publishing house in Piazzetta Nilo in Naples.
An intimate and delicate dedication to all those who had to bear the weight of war, a narration between images and literature, of the intense emotions and profound shock of those who, due to the events of war, are torn from their youth.
After greetings from the publisher Roberto Nicolucci, Stefano Causa, art critic and professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History at the Suor Orsola Benincasa University of Naples, and Col. a. (ter.) t.ISSMI Giuseppe Stellato, 82nd Colonel Commander of the Nunziatella Military School, will discuss the book with the author. The event will see the extraordinary participation of Peppe Lanzetta who will accompany the presentation with the reading of some passages from the book.
TO MY MOTHER is a journey into memory that listens to the stories of young soldiers who passed through the evocative walls of the Church of the Nunziatella in Naples, those who waited for them and the confessions of those who returned with a heavier heart.
It is a meta-story that narrates and collects sensations, dwelling on what young soldiers may have felt after abandoning their dearest affections, fighting fear and losing youthful lightheartedness to suddenly and inevitably become adults.
As a testimony to that lost innocence, the title takes up the last part of the book which is dedicated to the long letter – entitled “To my mother” – of a young soldier whose diary – transcribed in the first part of the book – portrays him as carefree and confident “of doing his duty well” during his training days, but, once he goes to war and is captured by the enemy, here he invokes the name of his mother, with the hope of alleviating his pain and healing his wounds: «In every adversity, in the face of the hardest hardships, even when I felt like I was going mad, all I had to do was pronounce your sweet name for me to be able to accustom myself to the harsh destiny».
A MIA MADRE represents the real testimony of the photographer's ability to go beyond images, to restore the deepest meaning of her emotions, to give meaning and value to her creativity, to bring back to the surface stories that ask to be brought to light. In De Rosa's photographic research the concept of objective correlative refers to the use of visual elements that evoke emotions rather than representing the subject in an objective or connoisseur way. Her work is based on the use of color, light, composition and other visual elements that she uses to create an emotional connection with the observer without necessarily providing a direct representation of reality.
A desire for synchronicity, to experience for a few moments what, preserved by a collective memory, remains timeless and is still energetically present today.
“Yvonne De Rosa’s images are objective correlatives and vernacular photographs are commas and paragraph points that write another story. The soldier’s objects, as in Tom Waits’s Soldier’s Things, are stray pieces of a “one” shattered in the trenches of a thousand wars that still tear children from their mothers. A mia madre is an archive in which Yvonne De Rosa, while reaffirming the value of truth and memory, insinuates narrative fiction. An archive that produces impressions, perceptions, not trajectories and paths.” From the preface to the work by Simone Azzoni.
Yvonne DeRosa was born in Naples. After graduating in Political Science at the University of Naples Federico II, he moved to London, where he devoted himself to the study of photography, obtaining a Post Graduate Degree in Photography at Central Saint Martins and a Master Degree in Photojournalism at the London College of Communication.
Since 2004 he has published, curated and exhibited his works in national and international contexts. Previous photographic monographs: Crazy God (Damiani Editore, 2008) presented at the Photographers' Gallery in London and Hidden Identities, Unfinished. (Damiani Editore, 2013) exhibited at the Victoria&Albert Museum of Childhood in London.
In 2015, she founded the Magazzini Fotografici association in Naples, of which she is still the artistic director.
Article published by Regina Ada Scarico on February 4, 2023 - 11:30 PM
I have worked for over 15 years in the world of theater and entertainment in general and I have had very long experiences as an administrator and coordinator of companies in complex shows, with numerous actors and staff. I have always taken care of the theater companies and also in the more general context of the organization of events, both the relationships with third parties and entities and those with the press and the world of mass media, having managed the press office in full autonomy several times on the occasion of shows, reviews, exhibitions and events
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