UMBERTO STEFANELLI (LAVINIO – ITALY)

It is always a discovery to stop in front of one of the works of this photographer who is active in each part of the world. Stefanelli, even though very young, has received important recognitions for his work as a publicity photographer and not only. In this phase of his search we note a surpassing of the propagandistic and consumistic effect in favor of a more intimate story, where the “merchandise” to tell is the soul, the sentiments, human kind on its knees, compassion, love. One thing however remains the same in his working: the graphic lay-out. The message that the author wants to transmit is resolved in the work through the organization in a collage of pieces of newspapers. The journalistic fact under scrutiny is the news of the death of the Holy Father, the title of the article and image of the Pontefix are put on the closing edge of the composition, a sort of frame that encloses the image of the real protagonist: a sad child from the third world. The Christian message that we catch is that of the immortality of souls, that of the immortality of good actions that perpetuate themselves in the needy that have been helped, the desperate that have been listened to, the prayers of all those that are in trouble. In the eyes of that child there is not only pain but also gratefulness. Small and narrow strips of newspaper overlap cutting in two halves not so much the work as the face, beautiful, of that small man that carries the cross of his earthly existence. The child doesn't look at us, his look is elsewhere….towards a metaphysical, mystic, better reality.

Nori Zandomenego for PlotArt