Sveglia e canta

2013 – Ballarò Market, Palermo

Photographs printed in postcard format and limited edition posters.

Conceived for “Carnet de Reves”, notebooks made of the food paper used in Palermo’s “carnezzerie” (butcher shops), published by Edizioni Precarie (IT)

 

 

“Sveglia e Canta!” (“Wake up and sing!”) evokes stories of historical markets in Palermo.

The same play, from morning to sundown, takes place every day: you suit, you set up the scene and you sing.

Sellers start with their “abbanniate” – singsong cries, which they use to artistically advertise the goods – but the closer you get to noon the farther from their conventional meaning the words become, making room for the unsaid and double meanings. Behind the melancholic, regrettable, cheerful or mischievous tunes there are figures and states of mind.