Skip to main content

Photo Story #1 - a village outside Milan, Italy during the lockdown

Introduced by G P Kennedy
 When Coronavirus struck Italy was hit early and hard. As of April 23, 2020, this country of around 60 million has nearly 190, 000 confirmed cases and in excess of 25, 500 deaths from Covid-19.
 One in seven people who catch the virus die from it, in Italy. The country acted swiftly and decisively to arrest the pandemic and the curve is flattening, as a result. The country remains on lockdown. Ellie gives us a slice of daily life with her moving images and thoughts.

Words and images from Ellie – Milan, Italy
 I am an artist and researcher currently based in a small town near Milan, Italy.
My photographic work has been exhibited in the United States and Italy (FotoFest, Houston, 2020, Project 019, Palermo, 2018 and many others) and is in the permanent collection of the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, South Texas College, and The Center for Creative Photography. I hold a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of North Texas. I am currently a PhD candidate in visual culture.


#1
Every day at 6pm, the neighborhood church tolls its bell, the official daily update press conference is held and the closed coffee shop at the roundabout blasts the anthem through gigantic speakers, with the owner waving his hand.
And the church, dating from the 17th c (the time of the last plague in Milan) gives an assurance that the world will go on after this is over. And me? I am only grateful that I didn't infect my family after my intensive crisscrossing of the city all February long.









#2
The epidemic has radically changed the Italian psyche. Besides the empty streets and squares, the closed coffee shops, the sudden removal of physical sociability, we are constantly reminded of the aftermath of WWII. That war brought destruction, but also hope, and the difficult years afterwards, the hard work and sacrifices, gave way to the economic boom and prosperity. Ironically, it is that generation that gave the most victims in the current calamity.











#3
If anything, the public spirit has been manifested through these homemade posters. #EverythingWillBeAllRight is the tagline of the day and these drawings of rainbows - are the sign of encouragement and expectation of future peace. Flags abound. But anger towards the politicians and the mistakes they made, mistakes that aided the outbreak, is seething.












#4
Our yard has not been mowed for months. Yard work is considered non-essential, and trash collection sites are officially closed, anyway. But it's the first time I can see these yard flowers grow so tall. Nature can't be stopped.








#5
And I am trying to keep my succulents alive and well. My anxiety, and my desire to be in control of something natural, small and beautiful, wants them to grow faster; I give them water, more water; water that they can't take anymore. Nature can't be spurred, either. Nature won't take my love, just as my disdain won't make a difference to it - it just is.






#6
This will be it. This will be it for quite a long time. March travel for my Houston exhibition was canceled and summer vacation will not take place. But most importantly, the new normal will cancel our social bodily experience. Will change public priorities: seeing other human beings in the flesh is fine in stores, unacceptable in museums; food is important, art is not. But the lessons of the crisis are lessons coming from art and words, not just physical survival.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An expertly crafted roast dinner to round of Food Week

Edited BY G P Kennedy     Chicken Roast Dinner by Simon   Hey all looks like its food week, which is my favorite subject at the best of times!   Last Sunday in Oz was Fathers Day so we went out for lunch, which meant that I didn’t get to cook. To compensate for this I am cooking Roast Chicken last night, which is one of my favorite meals and one that I have cooked so many times, I do it on autopilot while listening to music and having a few beers. No flash recipe here but here is what we had and I’ll explain how I did it-   Roast Chicken. Pigs in blankets. Roast potatoes and carrots. Cauliflower, parsnip and roast garlic puree. Brussels sprouts, broccoli and green beans. Home made gravy.   First thing is to work out the finish time and count back.   2.2 kg whole chicken so say 2 hours cook time. This was roasted with garlic, rosemary and lemon placed inside. Lay this on a bed of garlic and rosemary and drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil and then se...
Post a Comment
Read more

Week 22 starts with disaster as Tassy returns home from last week's trip

  Edited BY G P Kennedy Tassy - Karachi, Pakistan   Hello everyone. As excited as I was last week with my short escape to Dubai, this week I’m as despondent. The journey back from Dubai was uneventful in the sense that I knew what to expect with flight protocol and travel. A very excited and happy Mario, my Shih Tzu who we had left behind, greeted me.    The feeling of elation from the week’s trip was very much there for my first day back. The weather was not too hot and it was cloudy so that felt pleasant. This changed from the next day. The wind picked up and my bamboo fence fell over. Along with the fence I lost my beautiful vegetable bearing creepers and my bright bougainvillea that was uprooted.   The wind takes down part of the garden What followed in the next five days was the worst thunderstorm the country has seen in a 100 years!  Karachi in the best of times cannot handle rain. As mentioned a couple of months ago when we had heavy rainfall, our dr...
Post a Comment
Read more

Week 17 - Friday in Texas brings causes for high joy and deep sadness for Graeme

Edited BY G P Kennedy Graeme - North Texas, U.S.   Howdy – today is the sixth anniversary of our family moving to Texas, from England. We will be celebrating the Texas way with a heaping helping of the best barbeque (smoked meats, sides and fixins to the uninitiated) in North Texas from the awesome pit crew at Panther City BBQ.    We had a five-year plan when we moved – a list of things we thought were achievable which included a wish list column, too. We achieved a bunch of things in the plan including the wish list. We own a great house with a pool and plenty of garden space to live with two big dogs. Wish list items fulfilled.    Some of the stuff we supposed to be easier – throw some money at it, follow processes and everything will fall into place = have proven to be immeasurably more difficult than planned. I am talking mainly about immigration. After years of lawyers, both scrupulous and un-, and tens of thousands of dollars we are permanent residents on ...
Post a Comment
Read more