Something beautiful is a project of participatory photography curated by me and realized by the cultural association LIEUDIT CINQUANTE-SEPT in collaboration with the social cooperative VERSOPROBO which has kicked off in Nov. 2017 in the center of first reception for asylum seekers and refugees in the municipality of Orta San Giulio, in Novara (IT).

 

The project, through the realisation of series of workshops involving each time different participants, envisages the use of photography as a tool of interaction and a way of exploration of the territory by the asylum seekers with the host community. In a second step, it will provide the creation of a photographic publication which will tell about the authors experience.

 

Images production has been stimulated by "something beautiful ..." a list of things I provided to participants with the purpose of engaging them in a sort of scavenger hunt made by images.

In this way authors have experienced a pursuit, interpreting and translating my inputs in pictures, which allowed them to play the role of the photographer and consequently to overcome certain barriers and eventually to relate to the host community through the photographic tool.

 

A first response of the workshop is a composite portrait of Orta San Giulio, its landscapes, local inhabitants, tourists who visit this place every day, and of course the refugees involved who in recent times and more and more, are changing and possibly enriching the identity of these places.

 

First output of this experience is a set of postcards, kindly produced by LIEUDIT CINQUANTE-SEPT. You can drop a line to dedecrosta@gmail.com and know more about it!

 

"Something beautiful ..." list

 

 

1. something beautiful

2. something that has two colors - only two

3. an open space

4. something dangerous

5. a party, a toast

6. somebody's hair

7. a street food

8. a petrol station

9. an elderly person

10. a young person

11. a couple

12. make yourself self-portrait -no selfie, ask someone to take a picture of you

13. something from a window or a window

14. a bed

15. a dog

16. his human

17. a tree

18. a fish

19. a shop from outside

20. a bar

21. the barman

22. the mayor or someone working for the municipality

23. something that begins with z

24. a canned food

25. a road crossing

26. a person waiting

27. a foreigner

28. a map