____________
Photography by Paolo Ricca
AROUND ANGELUS
The Poetry Of Everyday Life
"AROUND ANGELUS evokes the sensations of a special day, the memory of a magical and timeless atmosphere. Fragments of a past future in which the protagonists, far from being contemporary citizens or time travelers, are the main actors of this eternal story: a continuous seduction, which tastes like a story and a spiritual journey to which no one, not even the strongest, can resist. Around the streets of the Angelus, adults and children let themselves be seduced by the poetry of everyday life."
Words by Paolo Ricca and Gianluca De Dominici
Strangest things happen around the streets of Angelus. Children, men, women and the elderly of all ethnic groups and ages, are hurrying to reach the place where the religious event will take place, in thanksgiving for the mystery of the Incarnation. There is no better time to remember that you are a Christian. Every person, whether it is a tourist who passed there by chance, or an enthusiastic believer, gets carried away by the sounds and sensations of that atmosphere. The energy is palpable, it transpires strongly in the air and intoxicates passers-by, making them more docile and more meek. The light is warm, enveloping.
Everything seems to be perfect, created ad hoc for the occasion. It is a day of celebration and, regardless of the knowledge of religions and local customs, the most important moment is not the event itself but rather what happens around it, the instants that precede it and define it in that atmosphere. only. This is how, in homage to childhood memories, I went back through the same streets I walked with my family when I went to St. Peter's Square to listen to the Angelus, the Catholic prayer that devotees recite every Sunday in thanksgiving for the mystery of the incarnation.
The series, entitled 'The Poetry of Everyday Life', evokes an alien dimension that smells of a bubble, a protected and alternative environment in which everything, even the most banal, takes on a different connotation from normal. The subjects framed on the streets of the Angelus express the serenity that accompanies them in their faces and which, at times, takes the form of an extravagant representation. In this feast for the eyes, people move excitedly in a preserved space that appears as a small oasis within the chaos of the city. The camera goes unnoticed, because there, in that idyllic dimension, everything seems to be allowed. Screams and noises are the background to a potpourri of visual experiences, moments ready to be captured and told.
"AROUND ANGELUS: The Poetry of Everyday Life."