Words, images and creativity to tell peace through the eyes of the new generations. The third edition of the artistic-literary competition “Geographies of the Heart”, promoted by the Il Sileno Scientific-Cultural Association in collaboration with the Istituto Comprensivo Rende Centro-San Fili, ended in the Tokyo Room of the Museo del Presente in Rende. The protagonists are the pupils of the lower secondary schools of the province of Cosenza, called this year to deal with the theme “Lins of Peace”, interpreted through poems, stories, illustrations, comics and photographs.
The awards ceremony took place in two parts. In the first part, the secondary school students were awarded, whose winning works, together with the selected ones, were collected in the volume “Geographies of the Heart – III edition. Linfe di Pace”, published by Il Sileno Edizioni. Subsequently, the pupils of the fifth classes of primary school, protagonists of the section dedicated to illustration, were awarded.
The meeting was opened by the school director Antonella Gravina, who highlighted how the complexity of the topic did not discourage the students, but favored “a plurality of voices and interpretations”. «The works presented – he underlined – give us an extraordinary richness of looks, words and images. Each represents a piece of an ideal mosaic in which each experience retains its own uniqueness, but dialogues with the others, demonstrating how our children are capable of reflecting in depth on the great themes of our time.”
For Francesco De Pascale, editorial director of Il Sileno Edizioni, the competition now represents “an atelier in which children learn not only to write or draw, but to observe the world and themselves”. A project which, he explained, interprets geography as a “science of relationships and not of borders” and which, “in the era of the Technocene”, gives back space to feelings, empathy and care for people and places. «Over the years – he added – a community has progressively formed around Geografie del Cuore which we could symbolically define as a movement of geographers of the heart».
The teacher and writer Francesca Anili, member of the Fiction section commission, also focused on the importance of educating young people towards intercultural openness, recalling the role of school in the education of new generations and the value of experiences capable of transforming students’ creativity into a resource for personal growth.
The Gazzetta del Sud journalist Vittorio Scarpelli also spoke among the members of the Fiction section commission and invited the students to cultivate curiosity and passion.
The educational value of the competition was also reiterated by journalists Michele Cervo and Maria Elena Noce, present as testimonials and parents of students awarded in past editions. As recalled by Katiuscia Milié, teacher at the Rende Centro-San Fili comprehensive institute and co-editor of the volume together with Maria Todaro, Paola Bevilacqua and Donatella Muià, initiatives of this type allow children to develop a critical spirit, practice writing and learn to give shape to their ideas.
Maria Todaro, artistic director of the competition, underlined how the entries recounted personal experiences, childhood memories and future aspirations. “Art allows us to explore ourselves, to reveal what often remains hidden and to give others our most authentic imagination,” he said.
The member of the commission of the Photography, Illustration and Comics sections, Gianluca Salamone, finally thanked the organizers «for having promoted a project capable of stimulating a broad and profound reflection on the values that keep generations united and fuel our creativity», inviting young people to seize in every new beginning an opportunity to express themselves.
The event, also sponsored by the GeoRiskEcoLab Research Center of the eCampus University, confirms the role of “Geographies of the Heart” as a laboratory of creativity and cultural growth for students in the province of Cosenza. The appointment is already scheduled for the fourth edition, with a new theme dedicated once again to the talent and ability of the young generations to tell the story of the world.