Alessandra Giovannoni and Tahar Ben Jelloun

Tahar Ben Jelloun and Alessandra Giovannoni are one again inside the rooms of Luigi Bernabò Brea Museum. The exhibition, curated by Giovanna De Feo, encapsulate a deep understanding of the modernity hovering on the isle, creating a narrative that on one hand pay tribute to the figure of a young hero of our times, the judge Livatino, killed by mafia, on the other hand delineate the drama of the refugees disembarking on Sicily’ shores.

Among the most famous names of francophone’s literature, Tahar Ben Jelloun is known internationally for his poetic production. He dedicated himself to painting only at a later time, and he’s defined as the painter of light and joy. In his paintings Jelloun transforms poetry in material and lively colors, bringing to life atmospheres and suggestions from the arabic world, recreating landscapes of his childhood through an abstractism that morph arabic calligraphy into signs with which he gives life to canvas.

If Jelloun’s painting is a form of writing, the works by Alessandra Giovannoni distinguish themself for their scenographic aspect. With an elongated cut and considerable dimensions, Giovannoni’s canvas are recognizable for the clean cut of the landscape in the top part of the composition, giving a sense of not finishing where colors seem sometimes blurred and light creates a reverb, as if you were looking at the painting foreshortened, squinting because of the sun.

Through the experimentation of color and matter, the works of the two artists, already part of the permanent collection of the contemporary wing of the Museum, offer the visitor a path that is a modern reflection on the looming destiny and on the tangible contrasts of today's world.

This is a reality that invests the most complex and extraordinary island in the Mediterranean, told by a poet-painter and a painter among the most interesting exponents of the New Roman School.