“Intrecci fotografici” (“photography braiding”) – 4 giugno 2021, Palermo

Venerdì scorso i ragazzi e le ragazze di In my art, del gruppo di Palermo, hanno portato in strada #intreccifotogra­ci. Un’occasione di in contro e di conoscenza reciproca attraverso la fotografi­a.

Il luogo scelto per il primo “intreccio” è stato il Bar- Caffetteria “Altrove” nel centro storico di Palermo, un progetto fondato sulla convinzione che il viaggio è uno strumento fondamentale per la creazione di relazioni tra persone e luoghi e tutte le persone hanno il diritto di scegliere dove vivere e sentirsi a casa in qualsiasi punto della terra, al di là di ogni confi­ne geopolitico o luogo di origine: la mia terra è dove poggio i miei piedi (Moltivolti).

 

 

#Intreccifotogra­ci ha infatti proposto alla comunità di scattare una foto del proprio luogo familiare e partecipare alla costruzione di un’installazione fotogra­fica itinerante:

Guardati attorno, osserva le foto che vedi appese nella cornice. Quando vuoi, posiziona la tua foto e se senti un legame con qualche altro scatto, usa il fi­lo per rendere visibile questo legame.

 

 

 

Fili colorati, fotografi­e, messaggi scritti a penna. Questi sono gli elementi di cui è composta l’installazione fotografi­ca. I ragazzi e le ragazze hanno creato un luogo accogliente in un angolo della strada, un modo inusuale di vivere un bar, dice D., che l’ha spinta a restare.

Per P. è stata un’occasione per tirare fuori la parte creativa di sé, inaspettatamente: mi sono sentito libero di esprimermi, di essere me stesso. Ho potuto autorizzarmi a utilizzare il  linguaggio dell’arte e dei colori, esperienza che spesso viene erroneamente giudicata infantile.

Sembra che il desiderio dell’incontro e della co-creazione abbia “normalizzato”  l’atto creativo in un luogo (in)solito, una caffetteria, al punto di permettere a giovani che non si conoscevano prima di interagire con con-­fidenza. La scelta dello scatto era spesso la “scusa” del dialogo, un modo semplice per iniziare a scambiare due chiacchiere, mentre l’installazione cresceva sotto i nostri occhi. Dall’individuale al collettivo, #intreccifotogra­ci ha aperto lo spazio per riflettere sul proprio concetto di familiarità, maturando nuove intuizioni o scoprendo che il mio Foro italico non è il tuo Foro Italico (A.). L’intenzione del ‘fare comunità’, unita all’arte della fotogra­fia come strumento, ha permesso di creare un luogo accogliente dove scoprire terreni comuni e portare alla visibilità la ricchezza della propria unicità.

In my art Palermo

 

 

My „In my Art“-experience

Between October 15th and 21th of 2020 I attended an online training course of the European Project named „In My Art“. This online training was led by two youth trainer of the non-governmental organization ,,Per esempio“ from Palermo in Italy. 14 young people and adults participated from different European countries, such as France, Italy, Greece, U.K., Spain and Germany. Due to the situation of COVID-19 the whole meeting was a virtual based course, which had no effect on the intensity of its’ content-related and personal aspects.
I was kind of excited, because I didn´t know how this form of training would look like. Firstly, it was new for me to interact with people I did not know and secondly it was an art-based training, therefore for me it seemed to be an impossible mission to do this online. We started at 9.30 a.m. on October 15th. I was sitting in my office with my Ipad on my desk, hoping my Internet connection would stay stable and wondering how I would overcome my insecurity in front of people that I didn´t know. A group of different people from Europe were sitting in front of their. The youth trainer started to introduce herself. It started with a little round, where every participant had to introduce herself. Then it continued with the question ,,what is art for us”. Some showed pictures of things they admired, others showed a drawn picture, or a sketch. According to the fact that I love colors and paintings that build a special atmosphere, I spontaneously chose the painting „the open window“ by Henri Matisse, from 1905. In other sequences we got some imagination exercises like describing a picture with only one word. We started to “break the ice” step by step, led by ourselves. Here actually it started to get really interesting for me: Imagination. All the exercises had the purpose to improve our focus on our own creative potential. Then the participants were divided into different little groups to deal with different tasks in a shared environment which was an opportunity for personal exchange. On the third day some participants had the possibility to present something of their own. One started to read her poem, and another showed his song played on a guitar.

For me it was a wonderful experience to get know the others better. Being in a group where everybody gives personal insight of herself, was a very precious and meaningful experience for me. Together we created a safe-space with clear rules and nice behavior, that were unspoken and came from our own. It was wonderful to be in a group where everybody respected and accepted each other. This experience showed me how an intersectional society can be created by single individuals who coexist together by accepting oneself without being directive.
“Arte migrante“ is an activity characterized by its’ purpose to create intersectional societies though art and to improve one´s creative potential. I think this approach is well chosen in the work with young people. I believe that in every one of us you can find an artist who needs to be empowered and wants to rise. Art is the way in which we see the world and we are connected to the world. It determines the way we feel, act, think and communicate. Especially in the time when we are on our way to become adults, an art-based youth work can improve the self-reflection and the will to explore oneself. Everything starts with something small. A little flower seed that starts to grow to become a wonderful flower. So, I see this workshop as a wonderful journey with other people on my way to become a better me.

Five days of Training Course: a brief report by USB

Five days of Training Course: a description

A brief report about the Training Course

For five days, between the dates 15th and 21st October 2020, two Youth Workers per each partner organization met in front of a camera to attend the Training Course online. The short-term-joint-staff training event focused on two key moments:

  • sharing the results of the Action-Research activity (IO1) and
  • learning about Arte Migrante methodology.

Per Esempio Onlus led the event as Hosting Organisation and, with the help of Arte Migrante representatives, prepared the training based on the Arte Migrante methodology.

Each training day has been introduced by an ice-breaking and energizing exercise that created some sort of link among the participants (which, remember, are located in Italy, Spain, Greece, France, Germany, and England) disregarding the physical distance. One last activity before closing the daily session was the debriefing leading to self-reflection that participants conducted into small groups specifically created.

The first training day aimed to getting to know each other and learning more about the project developed within the Erasmus + Programme. Other topics approached were the concept of life-long learning and the key competences within the Youthpass certificate; in this sense, the participants had the opportunity to develop a personal learning plan.

Remarkably, since the very beginning, the cooperation among the team lead to overcome easily any technical problem encountered during the first online training ever realized by the partners.

 During the second training day, the first half of the session has been dedicated to introducing the concept of e-mentoring that is going to support the piloting phase and the implementation of the youth activity. Asociación Caminos was in charge of the presentation and will lead the following e-mentoring meetings too. Definitely, the combination of mentoring and e-mentoring can be considered the most flexible option given the current health situation globally.

Then, each partner organization had the possibility to relate the results obtained from the Action-Research phase. At the end, such results have been analysed and structured in the following visual way using the SWOT Analysis template:

The second half of the day has been dedicated to a brainstorming activity aiming at developing a key idea of what Art is, starting from the personal experience of each participant. In fact, each Youth Worker described the way he or she expresses personal ideas through artistic creations.

This can be considered a sort of introduction to the third day, when the Youth Workers involved had the opportunity to attend an Arte Migrante simulation, hear more about this kind of events and get their doubts or questions clarified.

But what it the methodology that supports Arte Migrante events? Once the frequency has been established (weekly, semimonthly, monthly…), there are three phases that are repeated each time:

  1. Games that work as icebreakers
  2. Shared meal
  3. Artistic expression of the oneself

It is important to stress out that this is a non-judgemental moment of caring and confrontation: people come to be together and find friends inside the community. The Arte Migrante events are intended as a spontaneous meeting and a safe space for sharing, this is why there are not too many fixed rules. At the same time, specifically for logistic purposes, is required to create a coordinating group in charge. During the presentation the founder of the first Arte Migrante event, Tommaso Carturan, gave his speech telling more about how the whole project was developed and why.

After the break, a first chunk of three of the partners organisations presented their own stories of successful projects related to Art and Inclusion. Each presentation triggered a deep discussion about the Good Practices developed within.

The rest of the partner organisations had the opportunity to relate their own experience the next day. The fourth day was also a moment for self-reflection: it has been asked to the participants to describe in which role they see themselves during the development of the Arte Migrante project.

This was the premiss for the last day of the training course, particularly focused on planning the following steps. Participants discussed the management of the piloting phase (this also included setting deadlines and a first meeting for the e-mentoring). It has been very important to outline a first Coordinating Meeting and a first public Arte Migrante Event. That’s how participants confronted their work with some critical points concerning especially the restrictions imposed by covid-19 outbreak and tried to come up with a solution together.

It has been remarked that the non-formal activities should involve young people, whose profile has been outlined during the Action- Research phase, and should touch topics such as:

  • Art and Culture
  • Artistic expression of the oneself
  • Overcoming stereoptypes and prejudices

It’s very important to discuss these topics with the young people involved. During a series of workshops the debate around these themes should be ignited and it’s expected prepare them for the coordination of the event. The desired result is to develop a sense of initiative into these young people.

After the break participants heard the stories of coordinators coming from other Arte Migrante experiences under the section “Inspirational Talks”. This has been another moment of reflection, discussion and solution of doubts.

Finally, before the goodbyes, one last debriefing took place: the Youth Workers took some time to reflect on the 8 key competences of the Youth Pass they acquired or enhanced, in a very peculiar way: first, they assigned one colour to each specific competence and then filled a jar with the sand in the respective colours. Each one of the participants created a unique output as the amount of sand poured in reflected his or her personal assessment.

Have a look!

The article has been written by Chiara Parrucci, participant in the training course from USB. The