In Bergamo, “Io non scendo – Storie di donne che salgono sugli alberi e guarda lontano” (“I do not come down – Stories of women who climb trees and look far”) is staged.
New horizons, freedom, women and the future. In Bergamo, between the Carmine monastery and the former salt warehouses, ‘Fotografica’, the photography festival now in its fourth edition, will be staged from 14 October to 19 November. A stage that also includes the exhibition “Io non scendo, storie di donne che salgono sugli alberi e guarda lontano” (I don’t come down, stories of women who climb trees and look far), a unique exhibition that celebrates the determination and desire to explore new perspectives, defying gravity and social conceptions. An exhibition supported by Grazia Corali and the Corali Group, the well-known company from Bergamo specialising in packaging machines.
IN CALVIN’S FOOTSTEPS…
The title and theme of the exhibition immediately bring to mind the protagonist of Italo Calvino’s famous novel, ‘The Baron in the Trees”. In the story, the young Cosimo Piovasco di Rondò decides to spend his life in the trees, refusing to go ashore after an argument with his mother. This act of rebellion transforms him into a true “tree man,” offering a privileged view of the world from above.
In “Io Non Scendo,” the photographs capture the essence of this rebellion, taking the concept to a new level, but this time with female protagonists. The women portrayed in these photographs not only defy social convention, but do so with grace and elegance, just like Cosimo in Calvino’s novel.
THE SUPPORT OF CORALI
The exhibition, curated by Laura Leonelli and produced for “Fotografica” with the support of Grazia Corali, entrepreneur and president of the Corali Group, presents a wide selection of anonymous photographs that from the late 19th century to the 1970s, from Europe to the United States, confirm the international popularity of a new character, the woman climbing the tree. They are children, girls, friends, girlfriends, wives, young mothers alongside mothers of other generations. “They are strong, brave, cheerful and haughty. They are lying on the highest branches, they are sitting like queens where the trunk forks, they are bare-handed, sometimes barefoot, they are wearing heels, a skirt, trousers. Some have a camera, binoculars, a tennis racket, a guitar, a book. And through these objects-symbols, each woman photographed, nameless yet a sister, has entered into a greater story“.
THE THEME
The theme “Io Non Scendo” encourages the public to reflect on the concept of freedom, the need to explore new horizons and the courage to challenge the expectations imposed by society. This exhibition invites the visitor to look beyond the horizon and embrace the boldness of modern women. The exhibition is held at the Carmine monastery in Bergamo and is open to the public until 19 November 2023. This is an opportunity to immerse oneself in the stories of courageous women who chose to ‘not go downhill’ and see the world from a completely different perspective.
“For centuries, women remained on the ground, at the foot of trees. Women as roots, destined to nurture other existences, fathers, husbands, sons, that male eternally free to climb every peak and look far. But at a certain point the women rebelled, they embraced the trees, they put their feet up, and climbing from branch to branch they reached another point of view, even of themselves, more open, higher, deeper, clearer. And they said: ‘I am not coming down”.
