Suburbs and Peripherals Environments
Posted on October 18 2019
Suburbs │ 4th October - 5th November 2019
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Suburbs. Sub-urbs. As the etymology suggests, the word here considered indicates a place hierarchically located ‘under’ the urban layer, something that is somehow dependently subordinated to something else. A suburb is in fact a peripheral district of a city, used for residential as well as for industrial purposes and it has been often considered just as the counterpart of the city centre. It is situated out/side, far away from where everything happens and barely reachable with public transports.
Well, at least until recent times.
Nowadays the situation has been changing, constantly. Numerous has been the attempts to revitalise the outskirts, sustained by illuminated administrations as well as private investors’ efforts. Of course, from case to case, they were repaid more or less successfully. Either way, this shows the attention is currently pointed at those external zones, as the cities are growing and their structure in need of a change.
Well, at least until recent times.
Nowadays the situation has been changing, constantly. Numerous has been the attempts to revitalise the outskirts, sustained by illuminated administrations as well as private investors’ efforts. Of course, from case to case, they were repaid more or less successfully. Either way, this shows the attention is currently pointed at those external zones, as the cities are growing and their structure in need of a change.
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Anton Shults, Semera, 2017
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Art, on its side, is contributing to the cause, whether if consciously or not. And it does that both aesthetically-critically, with street art and installations, and rather objectively, through photography. The latter is in fact the protagonist of “Suburbs”, group exhibition organised at the gallery Spazio Millepiani in Rome, open to the public from the 4th October to the 5th November 2019. The main point of the show is to collect and share a wide photographic documentation about peripheral areas spread all over the world. From Russia to the U.S., from Europe to Africa passing through China, nowhere, nothing and no one is excluded. The artists, camera in their hands, are able to direct their gaze (and interest) to the most sensitive places of our planet, illustrating them in a poetic, sometimes nostalgic, way.
Their compositions, while framing landscapes, along with portraits and urban scenes, are sending messages and raising issues through images. Just because they are mute, it does not mean they cannot talk. They scream when reporting apartheid’s legacy in South Africa. They blame the consequences of (post-)industrialisation, both in terms of urban development and pollution. Again, they harmonically describe architectural landmarks and residential districts.
Looking at those series of picture, we not only have the possibility to fill our eyes with unique moments and places, but also to learn something new.
Their compositions, while framing landscapes, along with portraits and urban scenes, are sending messages and raising issues through images. Just because they are mute, it does not mean they cannot talk. They scream when reporting apartheid’s legacy in South Africa. They blame the consequences of (post-)industrialisation, both in terms of urban development and pollution. Again, they harmonically describe architectural landmarks and residential districts.
Looking at those series of picture, we not only have the possibility to fill our eyes with unique moments and places, but also to learn something new.
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