You belong. Identity stories
Collective exhibition within the fair
Paratissima Eye Contact – Match with art / XIX Edition
Section edited by Irene Fontana
Photo credits: Vincenzo Parlati
From the exhibition catalogue: “In a society where having seems more important than being, each individual carries out a constant and uninterrupted construction of himself which certainly does not depend on the quantity of goods possessed but rather on the sense of belonging to something or someone. In Sicily there is an expression aimed at clarifying a person’s family origins: where do you belong? which means “whose are you, where are you from?” but also “who are you?”. Belonging is therefore not possession, but identifying and recognizing oneself as part of a reality, it is having a safe haven to return to, a certainty in a dynamic and fluid world in which it is normal, at times, to feel lost. You belong. Identity stories is the account in images of the human and emotional bond with a place, an affection, a community, which leads to the definition or search for a social and cultural identity that everyone experiences during their existence because, even when the path is not well delineated, there is a vivid and earthly certainty: where we come from, what we belong to or to whom.”
The works of Magaly Arocha Rivas selected for You belong. Stories of identity and exhibited from 31 October to 5 November in the rooms of the Royal Cavallerizza are Picara Yanomami, Guardian of the Forest II and Street urchin of the Forest II, all three of which are part of the Exodus series The canvases, without a frame, were set up like clothes hanging in the wind, to symbolize the lack of freedom of the subjects depicted and, at the same time, the beauty and delicacy of the most common daily actions. In Exodus, Arocha Rivas transposes into painting the stories of boys and girls belonging to various indigenous tribes of the Amazon who, due to the pollution of river waters and forest degradation, today suffer from a high rate of malnutrition. The indigenous children, in this case Yanomami, represent for the artist the link with her own land, Venezuela: belonging to this country is for her a source of pride compared to the admirable relationship that these people have with nature and with the earth, but also painful, in reference to the environmental and human crisis that is afflicting this vast and delicate territory today.
The works of Magaly Arocha Rivas selected for You belong. Stories of identity and exhibited from 31 October to 5 November in the rooms of the Royal Cavallerizza are Picara Yanomami, Guardian of the Forest II and Street urchin of the Forest II, all three of which are part of the Exodus series The canvases, without a frame, were set up like clothes hanging in the wind, to symbolize the lack of freedom of the subjects depicted and, at the same time, the beauty and delicacy of the most common daily actions. In Exodus, Arocha Rivas transposes into painting the stories of boys and girls belonging to various indigenous tribes of the Amazon who, due to the pollution of river waters and forest degradation, today suffer from a high rate of malnutrition. The indigenous children, in this case Yanomami, represent for the artist the link with her own land, Venezuela: belonging to this country is for her a source of pride compared to the admirable relationship that these people have with nature and with the earth, but also painful, in reference to the environmental and human crisis that is afflicting this vast and delicate territory today.
Irene Fontana
Find out more on the Paratissima website: https://www.paratissima.it/paratissima-2023-you-belong-storie-didentita/