The first edition of the festival “Stories and reflections – Empowerment of people and communities ended with an empathic participation of the public and a strong emotional involvement of intent.
The event, which represented a novelty in the regional panorama of appointments dedicated to the fight against gender -based violence, condenses in its name a motorcycle of intent and a very precise vision: organized by the Center for Contemporary Art Studies Gianfranco Labrosciano in Cosenza, hosted at the Alt Art Art Park in Rende, the Festival intended the stories narrated as a living memory, and the reflections shown as the rebounds of awareness. The power of communication and language thus becomes the mirror through which to read, narrate and transform social dynamics, in particular in the fight against gender -based violence.
“Stories and reflections” developed in three intense days of meetings, exhibitions and workshops, which made the park a living laboratory of thought and practices. A place where words found shape, body and responsibility.
Among the guests, journalists and activists such as Nadia Somma, Stefania Rossi and Antonella Veltri, former president of the national network of the anti -violence centers say – women on the net against violence and founding member of the “Roberta Lanzino” anti -violence center. Veltri stressed: “” Language is not neutral: it is the first ground on which stereotypes, discrimination and violence are built. Working on words already means affecting reality, transforming it ”.
The conduct of the meetings was entrusted to Mariuccia Campolo, president of the women’s association, who at the end of the review summed up: “This first edition of stories and reflections showed that it is possible to combine critical thinking, art and activism in a collective plot. The stories we have listened to and the reflections we have generated push us to imagine a more conscious and stronger community”.
Among the most intense moments, the presentation of the archive of Lea Melandri, journalist, activist and essayist, edited by Angela Azzaro and Anna Petrungaro, who highlighted: “The Lea Melandri archive is a cultural heritage that returns voice to decades of thought and feminist practices. Bring it here means to root memory and project it into the future, as a tool of freedom and awareness”.
The Festival also welcomed the photographic exhibition “Women’s looks” by the artist Ivana Russo, which can be used until 29 September: a narrative path that crosses the female universe through the power of the gaze, enriched by a performance of the construction journalism laboratory. Just the laboratory, curated by Nadia Somma and Stefania Rossi, represented one of the most significant moments: reflecting on words as a tool to contrast violence and build a new imagination.
The Center for Contemporary Art Labrosciano Studies is already at work for the second edition of the Festival, thanks to the network of partner associations – Alt Art, WomenennoNvamino APS, the art of the clouds, outdoor museum paternal project – and the echo of an event that has lit, through stories and reflections, a shared grammar of emancipation and community.
The end of the event is to raise, through awareness, the value of the word so that being can become so powerful as to defeat all gender violence.