For the celebration of Europe Day 2023, the Consulate General of Melbourne and the Italian Cultural Institute are organizing an exhibition to combine art with the founding values of the peoples of Europe.
Joining art with the foundational values of the European people. For the meeting of the Interministerial Committee for EU Affairs – held in Turin in 2022 in Palazzo Madama that, with its 2,000 years of history, interprets the European identity like few others and, in 1961, hosted the signing of the “European Social Charter” – several major Italian illustrators narrated through images the six basic values of the Union – respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, rule of law, and human rights – as well as several key topics of the European debate – fraternity, work, culture, peace, environment, science, and inclusion.
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation embraced this initiative by commissioning two new illustrations – the first is dedicated to the concept of community, inspired by the 1957 Treaties of Rome, and the second is based on the essay “For a Free and United Europe. A Draft Manifesto,” better known as the Ventotene Manifesto – to celebrate, with a new exhibition, the Europe Day (May 9) across a network of consuls and Italian Cultural Institutes.
Starting from the Latin meaning of the verb “to illustrate”- shed light on, illuminate, explain—each artist proposed an essence of his own vision in order to portray and make understandable different values to every audience, of any age and level of education, through a message that is potentially clear, direct, and suited to the speed in which it is perceived. Few signs and colours summarized a flood of words or actions in the iconic simplicity of images that can remain impressed upon the memory of each of us.
Illustrators who, representing different stylistic languages, treated extremely complex topics by capturing the essence of their meaning and by enhancing a significant aspect of our contemporary culture. Because each of them is the interpreter of a new Italian “renaissance”: resolute and talented, creativity has led their practice to the most prestigious newspapers and magazines worldwide or has made them the creators of memorable book covers, ad/communication campaigns, and iconic silent books.
The works here display all the explosive communicative power of Italian illustration, the strength of silent storytelling: it is clear, and acts as a bridge between content and form, ethics and aesthetics, in an alchemy of talent and responsibility that can alternate school readings, snippets of documents, verses of poetry, words from songs listened to over and over again, excerpts from literature.
These fragments have been collected and reproposed in an intentional and chaotic presence: alongside drawings, these as well suggest, remind, create analogies.
To become memory. To become History.
Credits: Gio Quasirosso, Ventotene