In the winter of 1944, uprisings broke out in various Sicilian villages against the mismanagement of agricultural crops by an alliance of big landowners and fascist elites that remained in power. On the 31st of December a group of rebels led by Giacomo Petrotta proclaimed the Repubblica Popolare Contadina of Piana degli Albanesi. With a group of artists and young people of her hometown, visual artist Genny Petrotta, the grandniece of the rebel leader, approaches the events and aspirations of the peasant republic.
This project is part of
Regarding Colonies
Years
2023-2024
Countries
Italy, Spain, Turkey, Kosovo, Sweden, Romania
THE STORY
In the winter of 1944, uprisings broke out in various Sicilian villages against the mismanagement of agricultural crops by an alliance of big landowners and fascist elites remaining in the governments that left the population starving. On the 31st of December, in Piana Degli Albanesi, a town with a strong and unique cultural and linguistic identity founded by the Arbëreshë In the winter of 1944, uprisings broke out in various Sicilian villages against the mismanagement of agricultural crops by an alliance of big landowners and fascist elites that remained in power. On the 31st of December a group of rebels led by Giacomo Petrotta proclaimed the Repubblica Popolare Contadina of Piana degli Albanesi. With a group of artists and young people of her hometown, visual artist Genny Petrotta, the grandniece of the rebel leader, approaches the events and aspirations of the peasant republic..
Almost 80 years after the events, Petrotta revisits the long-silenced historical episode. She sets out in search of traces of what happened during the 50 days in which the autonomous republic existed until the police crushed it and the leaders were tortured for weeks. According to Giacomo Petrotta’s testimony in a book of Angela Lanza, a theatre play was performed that told the story of the young autonomous republic. “Mamma Perdonami / Mëma më fal” is a poetic re-enactment of the lost theatre play. With a video installation and a performance she contributes to the preservation of the political and cultural heritage of her hometown.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Genny Petrotta (1990) is an Italian artist who lives and works in Palermo. Her artistic practice, infused with poetry and expressed through video installations, seeks to sublimate a wide array of interests and influences, spanning anthropology, philosophy, and history. In 2013 she has graduated in Disciplines of the Arts and Cinema at D.A.M.S University in Palermo (IT) with a thesis entitled Ecstatic Truth, Reality and Fact in the Films of Werner Herzog. She made her on-screen debut as a camera operator in Belluscone, Una Storia Siciliana (2014) by Franco Maresco, a film awarded the Special Orizzonti Jury Prize at the 71st Venice Film Festival and recognized as the Best Documentary at the David di Donatello Awards in 2015.
In the same year together with the filmmaker Emilio Orofino she made her first feature film, LUX. Since 2016 she has been a member of Il Pavone, an art collective with which she has exhibited at festivals and exhibition spaces including in Manifesta 12 Collateral, Palermo, (2018), Spazio Y, Roma (2019), Cassata Drone, Palermo (2019), Festival Main Off, Palermo (2019), Festival Effetto 48, Panicale (2020), Adiacenze, Bologna (2022), Casa degli Artisti, Milano (2023). Starting in 2017, Genny Petrotta began her role as an assistant director for the artistic duo MASBEDO. In 2021, she initiated her collaboration with Fondazione Studio Rizoma as the director of photography for a performance project by Lily Abichahine during the Between Land and Sea Festival 2021 in Palermo.
In 2022 she directed the production of the works U Scantu by the artist Elisa Giardina Papa, presented at the 59° Biennale di Venezia and Alkestys by the artist Beatrice Gibson, showcased at the British Art Show. In 2023 she participated at ROR, Residency on the Road, collaboration between Postane, in Istanbul, Autostrada Biennale in Prizren and Fondazione Studio Rizoma in Palermo on the theme Decolonising Food: Water, Land and Heritage.
CREDITS
Artist: Genny Petrotta | Curator: Eva-Maria Bertschy | Choreographer and performer: Gloria Dorliguzzo | Music: Angelo Sicurella / Director, Cinematography, script and editing: Genny Petrotta | Painter: Giuseppe Borgia | Scenography: Cesare Inzerillo | Costumes: Gabriele Petta | Sound: Giuseppe Tripodi | Sound design: Philippe Ciompi | Project Management: Giorgio Mega | Unit manager: Francesco di Gesù | Ass. production: Nino Mandalà | Sculptors: Francesco Albano and Simone Zanaglia I Poetic translation from Italian to Arbreshë: Giuseppe Schirò of Modica | Photography direction of film shoot: Nick Gordon | Editing assistant: Naomi Kikuchi | Film printing and development: Augustus Color | Color correction: Giuseppe Petruzzelis | Technical service: Gruppo Sinergie.
Special thanks to Singer: Fromba Krasniqi | Plis production: Ergyle Gjurgjialo | Filigree Masters: Faik Bamja | Bashkim Tejeci, Xhafer Lushaj, Fatime Baruti and Elvis & Gjulian Bytyqi, Jeton Jagxhiu.
With the students of the class II and III Scuola Media Statale Demetrio Camarda of Piana degli Albanesi and Luna Brancaccio.
The project is supported by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture under
the Italian Council program (12th edition, 2023), which aims to promote Italian contemporary art worldwide.
Contacts: info@studiorizoma.org
