Our Worlds Through the Lens of Alessandro Punzo

Last Summer, when life had almost returned to normal for a couple of months, I was drawn in to a small photographic exhibition in Venice by the face on the publicity poster. I thus entered the world of Alessandro Punzo, an important and powerful one. I was relieved to see that an Italian man was using his art form to delve into the humanity of people struggling in different parts of the world, including migrants. I say “I was relieved” because Italy has had a bad press on the migrant issue due to Salvini’s stand in the last few years. It is hard to know where individual Italians sit on the subject but, like in all countries, there are those on both sides of the fence whom we don’t see when we watch the news or hear of government policies. Sadly, in Venice, the migrant issue is starkly present with the appearance of, mainly men, from Africa either begging on street corners or trying to sell jewellery from one cafe to the next. When speaking to these guys what struck me was how highly educated they all sound, some speaking a stream of European languages fluently, they all have families to support ‘back home’, usually in Senegal and believe that, despite the lack of work, they are better off helping their families from Italy. As someone who comes from a multi-cultural community in London, I worry when in Italy that the sight of African people only as those who beg or sell ‘fake’ Gucci bags would reinforce, or even create, a negative stereotype and anti-migrant hegemony. Born in Naples and now living in Padua, Alessandro says that he can relate to the migrant sensibility, as Italy is almost a divided nation between North and South on a multitude of levels.

Alessandro started his working life at sea as a trainee officer onboard a mammoth petrol tanker bearing the Italian flag. He describes this experience as having opened his eyes to the dreadful inequalities of capitalism and its detrimental effect on the environment as well as showing him:

“wonderful things, like, a dawn that I cannot forget, fishermen from the Comoros islands with their outrigger boats at the mouth of the Mozambique channel that separates Madagascar from Africa. And then the fish-rich turquoise Red Sea, the archipelago of Sonda and finally passed the Torres Straits, the Great Barrier coral reef of Australia, all the way to Brisbane…The consideration that comes to mind when I think of everything is always the same: someone would really have to be out of their minds to destroy such great beauty!” A sentiment that Greta Thunberg would certainly salute. These two levels: a critique of exploitation and a celebration of the World’s great beauty, are highly visible in his art.

His photos open our eyes to the poverty in Madagascar, asking us to wait a moment before mindlessly paying more in one night for a hotel room than a local worker could earn in a year. Despite the fact that Madagascar provides 80% of the World’s Vanilla supply and 50% of its Sapphires, both of which have an extortionate market value, (Vanilla costs $600 a kilo), its poverty rate is harsh and high:

Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world – nearly 78 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line of US$1.90 per day – and is extremely vulnerable to natural disasters. Due to its low vaccination rates and poor sanitation and hygiene, Madagascar is regularly hit by epidemics. (Humanitarian Action for Children 2020).

On his website (https://www.alessandropunzo.com), Alessandro doesn’t describe himself as a ‘photographer’ but rather as a ‘nomad’. He is a passionate and unpretentious observer of our World doing what all great artists do, consciously or unconsciously, opening our eyes to that which is around us, inviting us to view it through a different lens.

form-idea.com Venice, 3rd February 2021

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I met Themba on the beach, he is one of the many sellers of “beads”, as I call them, who grind kilometers and kilometers under the hot sun to earn a few pennies. The stories of immigrants are all alike, because need is always the main spring. It is often forgotten (in the first years that I was in Chioggia, I was told, more than once, that I was staying in a land that was not “mine” and that I was taking away work from others !!). Thus, Themba too had been driven by need; and he too, like many others and others, needs to send money home (Senegal), where there is a family member (the mother, in his case) who needs medical care. When we said goodbye, I handed him a 10 € banknote. Well, I had to insist a lot for him to take it! He was moved, two tears appeared. A very special person. I felt a mixture of shame and guilt … I hope he managed to heal himself. Who knows how happy he would be to know that a photo of him was exhibited in Venice! I hope to see him again, to tell him how many emotions his face aroused and, perhaps, to listen to him, and his story this time, with more attention.