© Iole Carollo, Out Of Africa

Out of Africa is a visual narrative of migration. As discussed in the article by A. Cutolo (2019) of the same title, this work opens a window onto worlds in motion, where young Africans journey in search of something else—a possibly better life—crossing conventional lines known as borders and risking their lives in challenging encounters and dangerous crossings.
As Iole Carollo reminds us in the leaflet (with a touch of self-irony, characteristic of this artist) that accompanies her images, in paleoanthropology, these words refer to the migration of humans from Africa. Humans have always moved, sought, and discovered, following one of the many enduring human traits (Panikkar, 2006) that drives them along a path that is both a rebirth and a loss.

© Iole Carollo, Out Of Africa

© Iole Carollo, Out Of Africa 

© Iole Carollo, Out Of Africa

The images that make up this book whisper a story—one of rupture, a crack evoked by the dry land that appears in the photographs. Those who emigrate break away from both their original world and themselves, putting themselves at risk for an uncertain and precarious future. "Here, I was born an adult": a conceptual oxymoron that resonates and conflicts with our idea of innocence and adulthood in a world of adults. Movement, in fact, has for centuries meant leaving pieces of oneself scattered across the world, abandoning the past while offering unwritten testimonies of a passage that, even after centuries, resurfaces for those with the interest to understand and remember.

© Iole Carollo, Out Of Africa

The approach of this artist is that of an archaeologist, her profession. Just as the augurs read signs of the future in the elements of nature, Carollo creates mosaics of contemporary symbols representing a humanity in motion. Her projects tell us of an environment that speaks of the people who inhabit it and those who have passed through it, leaving behind traces and invisible stories.

© Iole Carollo, Out Of Africa

© Iole Carollo, Out Of Africa

© Iole Carollo, Out Of Africa

As Tim Ingold highlights in his work Il futuro alle spalle. Ripensare le generazioni (2024), what we do not know remains hidden from our sight, while elements of the past speak and sometimes chaotically crowd our present. Iole Carollo, with delicacy and depth, gathers clues of human passages. Her approach is anti-colonial; she does not seek to highlight the emergency of landings in Sicily, where she lives and works, nor does she capture images of suffering faces or overwhelmed bodies. Her photographs speak to us of constellations of sea voyages; enriched with hidden quotations on the pages, they bring together both the power and fragility of migration.

© Iole Carollo, Out Of Africa

© Iole Carollo, Out Of Africa

It would be beautiful if photographs like these continued to accompany us in our reflections, serving as a silent memory of a past that is too present. Migration, as trauma and rupture, asks not to be narrated as violence but as an opportunity. The future, which we still cannot fully see but that follows us, cannot exist without what we see happening. However, it can be influenced by how we position ourselves in relation to it.

Book Out Of Africa by Iole Carollo. A cura di Benedetta Donato.

Bibliography:

Cutolo, Armando (2019), Out of Africa! La generazione che non vuole più attendere, in D. Ferrari, F. Mugnaini (eds.) "Europa come rifugio? La condizione di rifugiato tra diritto e società", Siena, Betti Editore.

Ingold, Tim (2024), Il futuro alle spalle. Ripensare le generazioni, Meltemi.

Panikkar, Raimon (2006), Il Dharma dell'induismo. Una spiritualità che parla al cuore dell'Occidente, Rizzoli. 

Iole Carollo (website)

Out Of Africa (book)