{"id":15266,"date":"2024-12-05T16:38:08","date_gmt":"2024-12-05T14:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artificialis.eu\/?p=15266"},"modified":"2024-12-02T17:41:58","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T15:41:58","slug":"artwork-of-the-month-december-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artificialis.eu\/?p=15266","title":{"rendered":"Artwork of the Month \/ December 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>La foresta che cammina (The Walking Forest)<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
\nAlessia Rollo<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

2023
\nDigital photo with analogue manipulation
\n170 cm x 120 cm
\nEdition of 5<\/p>\n

In ascending wintery woods, stands a peculiar creature. Its head and torso are coated with branches of ivy<\/a><\/span>. There is no face, and the body shape is also hidden. However, the protruding arms, the right one is holding a wooden stick with a holly at the top, suggest a disguised human person, even though, the legs and feet are concealed too. They are vanishing behind fog and wondrous orange dots, which might be little lights. This impression is amplified by the repetitions of these spots in the background. Like fairy lights, they are covering a crown of a little tree at the left image border and proceed curvy above the ascending terrain. The ground seems to be covered by snow, even though wafts of mist are billowing over it and between the trees in the surroundings, hence, the winter impression of the scenery.<\/p>\n

Alessia Rollo\u2019s photograph is called \u201cLa foresta che cammina\u201d (The Walking Forest) from her series \u201cParallel Eyes\u201d. In this cycle, the artist investigated ancient practices and traditions in the south of Italy. \u201cThe Walking Forest\u201d, is dedicated to one of these archaic rituals. Once a year, people in Satriano di Lucania<\/a><\/span> in the region Basilicata<\/a><\/span>, dress up like trees and are called \u201cRumita\u201d. Hereby they cover themselves with branches of ivy. This might refer to the Roman God Bacchus and the older Greek God Dionysus<\/a><\/span>, who is often depicted with vine leaves, but also with ivy. Particularly artistic representations since the Renaissance, focus on Bacchus with his qualities as God of winemaking and festivity. However, he also stands for vegetation and fertility and is sometimes identified as son or husband of Demeter<\/a><\/span>. This is underlined by his attribute, the thyrsus<\/a><\/span>, a staff, covered with leaves, which is also a symbol of prosperity and fertility. Herewith, the Rumita\u2019s wooden stick with the holly<\/a><\/span> (Fruscio) is another hint to Bacchus.<\/p>\n

According to recent researches, the figure of the Rumita was probably introduced by the Normans<\/a><\/span>, when they populated the south of Italy. It might even originate from Celtic times, when the Vikings got in Normandy in contact with the Celtic culture. The Celts<\/a><\/span> had many myths inspired by nature. Nevertheless, the connection to Bacchus indicates a Roman influence, too. With all these references, the Rumita could be the result of cultural syncretism, which also includes the legend of a hermit, who lived in harmony with nature. At the beginning of spring, he descended to the villages to ask alms and to restore the contact to the people, lost during winter. This fable is today reenacted by people dressed as Rumitas, who are knocking on doors by rubbing their Fruscios there. As symbol of hope for spring they receive food and coins. Besides this, the Rumita remains absolutely quiet. By the time being, the Rumita also became an emblem for the ecological movement, which claims to restore the respect of nature and sustainability.<\/p>\n

Nowadays, the tradition of the Rumita is included in the Carnival of Satriano di Lucania<\/a><\/span>, held during the weekend of the traditional Christian carnival<\/a><\/span>. Nevertheless, the ritual of the Rumita is not connected to it, as the newer findings show. Moreover, the practice is a silent and solemn one, in opposite to many other carnival traditions, which are noisy and raucous, with music, dance and slapstick, like in Rio de Janeiro<\/a><\/span> or in the German Rhineland<\/a><\/span>. With the Rumita, people honour the respectful contact with nature. To underline this serious character of the celebration, Alessia manipulated the printed image. In doing so, she introduced what we identified as fairy lights. Herewith, she emphasised the solemn atmosphere, the magic of the ritual.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Alessia Rollo<\/strong><\/p>\n

Born 1982 in Lecce, Italy, Alessia Rollo studied in Perugia<\/a><\/span> (BA in Visual Communication), Madrid, Spain (EFTI<\/a><\/span>, MA in Creative Photography) and Milan<\/a><\/span> (Master in Publishing). Already during her studies, she participated in many workshops with international artists like Peter Funch<\/a><\/span>, Mauricio Alejo, Denis Darzacq<\/a><\/span>, Jill Greenberg<\/a><\/span>, Matt Siber<\/a><\/span>, James Casebere<\/a><\/span> and Mary Ellen Mark<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Since 2010, Alessia\u2019s works have been presented in several solo exhibitions and she participated in many group shows all over the world. First, there was a focus in Spain, but with the time being, her oeuvre is more shown in Italy and travelled various European countries (Netherlands, France, England, Greece, Portugal, Finland and Albania) and abroad (Brazil, Mexico, Ethiopia, China and United Arab Emirates).<\/p>\n

Alessia\u2019s first photos were still life\u2019s, close to Italian renaissance painting. After a period of experimenting with different techniques and combining diverse genres, her work became more conceptual. She creates series by investigating an issue from various angles. In doing so, she mixes a documentary with a fictional approach. This becomes evident in her series \u201cFata Morgana<\/a><\/span>\u201d, where our Artwork of the Month \/ February 2019<\/a><\/span> is taken from. Here she is questioning the ambiguous image of her home region Salento between reality and appearance.<\/p>\n

With her series \u201cParallel Eyes<\/a><\/span>\u201d, started in 2019, Alessia focused once more on the south of Italy. Here, she dealt with ancient practices of the region. Often, they lost their original meaning by the time and became popular festivals with a commercial purpose. In pointing to a particular tradition, she reminds the origins like in the photo \u201cThe Burning Saint\u201d, which presents the Focara of Novoli and is our Artwork of the Month \/ January 2023<\/a><\/span>. Other rituals have got an additional meaning. One example is our Artwork of the Month \/ December 2024: \u201cThe Walking Forest\u201d. It depicts a tradition from Satriano di Lucania in the region Basilicata that has an ancient origin, but also current references are important. \u201cThe Walking Forest\u201d was chosen<\/a><\/span> as title image for the European Photo Contest<\/a><\/span> 2024.<\/p>\n

In her work, Alessia enquires about photography itself, but at the same time, she points to subjects of society. This could be female identity (To undo an island<\/a><\/span>), Queer discrimination (Queer is Now<\/a><\/span>), urbanisation (An endless Day<\/a><\/span>) or eating habits and it changes (Happy Meal and We eat what we are). Even though, many of her projects are anchored in the Mediterranean area, Alessia\u2019s experiences of many residencies (Greece, Ethiopia, Austria, Japan, Slovenia) enter into her oeuvre. Some of her series were published as photo books<\/a><\/span> and international magazines<\/a><\/span> dedicated articles to her work. Cooperations<\/a><\/span> with companies, cultural organisations and festivals testify the great versatility of her artistic practice. Most recently, her series \u201cDon\u2019t play with food\u201d was presented at the Yeast Festival<\/a><\/span> in Lecce, Italy (19th September to 3rd November 2024) and \u201cParallel Eyes\u201d was at the Radar Festival,<\/a><\/span> Trani, Italy on view (4th October to 30th November 2024). <\/p>\n

Alessia lives and works in Lecce.<\/p>\n

www.alessiarollo.it<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

La foresta che cammina (The Walking Forest) Alessia Rollo 2023 Digital photo with analogue manipulation 170 cm x 120 cm Edition of 5 In ascending wintery woods, stands a peculiar creature. Its head and torso are coated with branches of ivy. There is no face, and the body shape is also hidden. However, the protruding… (read more<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15267,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1701,2847,4052,4055,4057,4054,2846,4059,87,4050,4047,4056,277,1264,4058,4053,4051,4048,4049],"class_list":["post-15266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artwork-of-the-month","tag-alessia-rollo","tag-bacchus","tag-basilicata","tag-carnival","tag-celts","tag-demeter","tag-dionysus","tag-fruscio","tag-italy","tag-ivy","tag-la-foresta-che-cammina","tag-normans","tag-photo","tag-photography","tag-romans","tag-rumita","tag-satriano-di-lucania","tag-the-walking-forest","tag-wintery-woods"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artificialis.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artificialis.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artificialis.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artificialis.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artificialis.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artificialis.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artificialis.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artificialis.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artificialis.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artificialis.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}