Fabiana Scattarreggia was born in Calabria in 1998. After attending classical high school, she moved to Rome, beginning a new course of study at RUFA – Rome University of Fine Arts, graduating in Photography after three years. During her studies she experimented with different languages, showing a greater interest in documentary photography.
Nelle tue selve tacite urla
The thesis project stems from the strong bond that photographer Fabiana Scattarreggia has with her homeland, Calabria, and from the desire for rebellion that drove her away from it. “Calabria is harsh beauty, it is a bitter land, contaminated by savages. Today Calabria presents itself as a territory that many describe as welcoming, but which often becomes the setting for inconceivable acts of violence. A land tormented by crime and abandoned by the State.
It has many wounds that have never been covered, and for this reason I felt the need to experience it, to tell its story, losing myself in the eyes of the people, in its boundless nature.
My gaze was “distant” in everything I photographed, starting from nature and moving towards more difficult subjects such as the ‘Ndrangheta. My aim is to encourage anyone who looks at the project to reflect on the conditions of Calabria.”
The South has always suffered denigration that has produced a message which is very often untrue and which is still alive in the younger generations today, latent but constant.
The territories of the South are described as hopeless lands, at risk of permanent underdevelopment, with imminent industrial desertification. The prejudices of foreign travellers are still present today: they describe the people living in these regions as warm, but with no desire to work, with breathtaking landscapes but inadequate structures; they speak of unspoilt lands, burned and abandoned. There are no happy lands; many times there is a tendency to place the blame on a scapegoat. We must fight to obtain justice and rights, and only through the weapon of culture will we be able to fight for the South, for these regions. In Calabria not everything is lost, despite the indifference of many. Many people believe in a new Calabria, in its improvement. To believe in this territory, we must denounce wrongful actions and become aware of what we truly want to be.
Only in this way will we return to live in our native lands, no longer being called terroni, but the children of the Greeks.
