Just a few days before the “International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women”, the “Art and culture against femicide” conference took place in “Koch Room” of “Palazzo Madama” headquarter of the Italian Senate of the Republic on November 22.
During the conference, officiated by the President of the Senate Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, the artwork “Homàge to Ilenia” was displayed for the first time. The monumental sculpture was created specifically for the occasion by the Artist Alessandro Galanti with the sole purpose of sensitize people to support the culture of non-violence toward women in any given perspective of life.
“It is a chance to meet and encourage people on a theme that , in the last few years, has recorded an important growth in coverage and attention by the media and the Institutions” said the Artist from Monza, “…a culture-focused event to testify and support how Art can be an efficient tool to help this fight against violence on women, and a strong and international communication tool to reinforce a cultural change to our society as a whole”. Moreover “…Starting from the idea that art can have the ambition to trigger a social change, the artwork is the representation of the difficulties of the victims and of all the people affected by these tragedies. …Five gold women, five real girls who have lent themselves to be models: each of them in the artwork, four meters high, personifies a feeling. In the center there is a girl who has really suffered violence in her life; represented in the defensive position, she is the symbol of hope, because she managed to get out of that vortex of violence to recreate a new life. The four girls around her represent different feelings, reactions and attitudes of the female society facing violence: two passive and two active. The first one is fear, represented by a girl, firm, with arms at her sides and blindfolded, the complaint of those who do not wants to see and pretend nothing, while the second one is consternation, of those who feel with their hands tied. Then there are the two active feelings: courage, with a girl with open arms, wanting to stand between the aggressor and the victim, and finally the anger, represented by a girl with an open hand blocking the aggressor and a clenched hand. She is the image of strength as well…All five are inside a sphere; that is my dimension, a shape that I really love. It symbolizes how I experienced emotion and it is a dimension in which I let others enter. This work is also a denunciation of the fact that we are not able to love: lf you really love someone sometimes it is important to take a step backwards “ declared Alessandro.
Here below the speakers attended the conference:
– Alessandro Galanti, Artist
– Senatrice Giulia BONGIORNO, Ministro senza portafoglio per la pubblica amministrazione
– Senatrice Lucia BORGONZONI, Sottosegretario di Stato per i beni e le attività culturali
– Senatrice Donatella CONZATTI, Gruppo Forza Italia-Berlusconi Presidente
– Senatrice Alessandra MAIORINO, Vicepresidente del gruppo M5S
– Senatrice Simona Flavia MALPEZZI, Vicepresidente del gruppo PD
– Senatrice Daniela GARNERO SANTANCHE’, Gruppo Fratelli d’Italia