In the sacred art history texts that deal with the theme of murals, there is an immediate reference to Diego Rivera, husband of Frida Khalo, and to the Mexican school. Since then, we are at the end of the nineteenth century, it has been discovered that the gray of the old plaster can be replaced by a rainbow of colours, to which collective social and popular messages can be entrusted. Walls painted with scenes and images that have a value of political denunciation, a powerful means of communication and representation of a community.
Reality
In Sardinia there is no country that does not have its own murals. "The library of identity" of L'Unione Sarda is enriched with a new series, entitled "Murals of Sardinia", which was created with the intention of mapping this particular artistic production, so loved on the island. The fourth volume will be available on newsstands tomorrow, on sale with L'Unione Sarda at 8.50 euros plus the cost of the newspaper. Gianni Sirigu is the photographer who signs the curatorship of a truly prestigious and fundamental work for anyone who loves art, identity and popular culture. Fourth stage from Gesico to Mamoiada, crossing the municipalities of Gesturi, Giave, Goni, Gonnosfanadiga, Gonnostramatza, Guamaggiore, Iglesias, Ilbono, Isili, Ittireddu, Ittiri, Jerzu, Laconi, Lanusei, Loceri, Lotzorai, Macomer, Magomadas, Mamoiada. Each page is a discovery, a kaleidoscope of colors and images that recall the tradition or evoke the modernity of artistic languages.
Curator
«It was particularly exciting to walk the streets and alleys in the various inhabited centers I visited and discover the murals almost by chance, sometimes thinking that I was really looking at the people or objects depicted, given the perfection of the works», says the curator Sirigu . «This aspect struck me especially in the small towns, now almost completely uninhabited, where the few signs of life appear to be represented by the scenes of daily life painted on the walls. Sometimes it was truly impressive to turn the corner and suddenly find yourself in front of such vivid images, capable of taking you back in time, to scenes already experienced in your now distant childhood: the elderly sitting and chatting, the women weaving, the peasants work the land with the plow driven by oxen. It was truly a return to the origins of our culture, a dive into the most authentic traditions that characterize our land in an extremely unique way". The murals narrated in volume number four are astonishing for their intensity: in Goni the women portrayed evoke Gauguin; in Iglesias the starting point is the hard work of the mines; in Ittireddu you discover flashes of modernity and cheerfulness. While in Laconi a Mother Goddess stands out, a reminder of an ancient civilization to which we are still linked. The latest color print depicting one of the murals will be on the newsstand tomorrow.
