Urbanautica

STATES OF THE SOULS. AN ILLUSTRATE THEATRICAL SCRIPT

by Steve Bisson

© Giovanni Emilio Galanello from the series 'Gli Stati delle Anime'

Hi Giovanni, I would like to introduce the recent illustrated theatrical script project to which you contributed as a photographer, and that is currently being crowd-funded. Can you tell us about the motivations behind this work?

Giovanni Emilio Galanello (GEG): Gli Stati delle anime ("The States of Souls") started about three years ago, from the almost casual meeting with Maria Anna Stella, playwright, and theatrical actress. After the 2016 earthquake, she got involved in the reconstruction of an idea of community in Norcia and Valnerina (in the province of Perugia, Italy). The project aimed to investigate the visceral link between a land historically affected by dramatic natural events and its inhabitants and the need to explore and tell a disappearing reality.

From the methodological point of view of what visual investigation did you conduct, what were the objectives and how did the process develop?

GEG: We are talking about a process that has proved difficult, the result of incremental choices, and that has not unfolded in a very linear way over the years. The project as it presents itself today is the result of slow maturation. The early stages of the work were more in the form of reportage on a territorial scale, focused on the landscape and the new temporary living conditions. Over time, and after several trips, the survey scale has shrunk, and specific characters and stories have taken on greater importance. Hence the need to get closer to the scenes and the subjects that made them up; the photographs have taken on an evocative and symbolic form, leaving behind the search for an objective dimension of reality.

© Giovanni Emilio Galanello from the series 'Gli Stati delle Anime'

The territory brutally and torn apart almost told itself; there wasn't much to interpret. The difficulty was in trying to change the focus; do not get carried away by the aesthetics of "ruin" and focus more on the idea of "staying." And this was a goal I set myself from the first steps of this work: to avoid the story of the rubble and give back the community's efforts to rebuild itself. One thing I learned from this trip is that everything has the right distance to be observed.

"The States of Souls" is also a participatory storytelling project that takes the form of an illustrated theatrical screenplay. Can you tell us the purpose of Maria Anna Stella's theatrical workshop “Who has time, don't wait for time”?

Maria Anna's commitment to Norcia, her hometown, dates back to 2016 when she founded the Montanari Testoni association. With a group of volunteers, they aim to support the community after the earthquake. A series of initiatives followed up and led to the creation of the workshop Chi ha tempo non aspetti tempo ('Who has time, don't wait for time'), with the local public health agency's support. The primary purpose was to assist the more emotionally affected by the earthquake, such as the elderly. During the workshop, Maria Anna had the opportunity to meet weekly with the elderly involved, collecting hours and hours of stories and memories about Norcia and the whole territory, which should have taken the form of a public show. Due to the pandemic, the laboratory was unable to continue; the idea of the screenplay was born from here, as an attempt to follow up the workshop with other tools. From the reinterpretation of the conversations that Maria Anna had with the participants, the text for "The States of Souls" was born, which breaks down the individual dialogues and reassembles and intertwining them into a fictional narrative thread divided into five acts.

© Giovanni Emilio Galanello from the series 'Gli Stati delle Anime'

Giovanni Emilio Galanello and Maria Anna Stella along the Torbidone stream in the Norcia countryside (backstage).

How does photography intersect with the oral stories you have collected? Which alchemy takes shape from a theatrical point of view? What role does photography play in illustrating this territory's memory and of the people severely affected by the earthquake?

GEG: This collaboration allowed me to experiment with the use of photography that I had never considered; that is, the images are in dialogue with the text and complete it. They are images of places and figures that exist, nothing is simulated in the scenes depicted, but there is no direct correspondence between the textual passages and the photographs. The photographs suggest atmospheres, costumes, details, and settings, recomposing the work's scenographic corpus. The photographic process mirrors the writing process, just as the screenplay recomposes fragments of honest conversations. The photographs collect moments of real life, re-contextualizing them within the acts.

© Giovanni Emilio Galanello from the series 'Gli Stati delle Anime'

Giovanni Emilio Galanello at San Pellegrino di Norcia, taking portraits (backstage)

© Giovanni Emilio Galanello from the series 'Gli Stati delle Anime'

I Used photography as a tool to restore visibility and voice to these territories and the people. It's a contribution, albeit small, to the protection of collective memory. I hope that photography has succeeded in the difficult task of representing the intangible heritage of Valnerina, further marginalized by the consequences, both physical and mental, of the earthquake. The images as a whole try to restore the choral identity of the inhabitants, ideally reconstructing the bonds broken by the condition of isolation. For each shot, a direct relationship has been established between representing and being represented, remembering and being remembered.

You also collaborated with Francesca Gotti, a researcher at the Politecnico University in Milan...

GEG: The project was born from a dialogue between Francesca and me. Immediately after the 2016 earthquake, due to different but equally strong ties with these lands, we felt the common need to explore and investigate the territory's post-seismic condition. In this first phase of our collaboration, Francesca was involved in analytical research of the landscape, which went hand in hand with my photographic campaign; both focused more on the place's geographical and settlement dimension. Later, Francesca realized that there was the possibility of developing the idea of the screenplay starting from the work of Maria Anna. She took care of structuring the narrative thread that laid the base for the photographs. The selection and editing of the images also followed the text.

© Giovanni Emilio Galanello from the series 'Gli Stati delle Anime'

One of the many videocalls Norcia / Milano by Maria Anna Stella, Francesca Gotti and Giovanni Emilio Galanello (backstage).

Maria Anna Stella and Francesca Gotti during their first visit to Castelluccio after the earthquake (backstage).

The screenplay wants to become a book also thanks to the crowdfunding you are making. What kind of publication are you imagining?

"The States of Souls" takes the form of a newspaper; we immediately imagined it as an object that could be available in a newsstand or on a coffee table, an ordinary and domestic object, for everyday use. We relied on Chiara Simion, as the graphic designer. The newspaper's idea features a large format, a light paper, with no cover to get soon into the story told. Images and text constitute two separate blocks: the text comes with an apparatus of notes that delineate the characters and situations more precisely. The photographs have captions that give temporal and spatial indications to reproduce the scenographies. Somehow it's a 'scientific' book, a tool not only for dissemination but also for study: we would like "The States of Souls" to enter schools and theatrical centers so that the screenplay can be re-interpreted and staged by other groups. This book is a manifesto of how art can become an instrument of community mediation; through it, we aim to channel needs, fears, dreams, hopes of land on edge.

Maria Anna Stella with Francesca Gotti and Michele in front of the Church of Sant'Antonio in Norcia

The "favone" (traditional fire) at the Norcia Carnival 2019

Giovanni Emilio Galanello (website)
Crowdfunding page of "The State of Souls"

share this page