FROM EX-VOTOS TO HUMAN TRAGEDY
10 YEARS SINCE POPE FRANCIS VISITED LAMPEDUSA
The multiple faces of the ocean depend on the type of relationship human beings have with it. Hope and disappointment-Life or death. In the historical ex-votos hall located in the diocesan museum, the tablets on the tragedies are particularly striking, placed in relation to author's photographs concerning the tragedy of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea.
The photos by Massimo Palamenghi, Fabio Peonia and Giuseppe Spoto captured daily live moments of men, women, children and rescuers. They prompt the question that Pope Francis addressed to humanity: Who wept for them? Who is responsible for what happened?
The images become the contemporary representation of the rescue request imprinted in the museum's votive tablets, in some cases achieved and in others tragically lost. Conceived as frames of a film, capable in one click a temporal sequence made up of distinct moments: the tragedy, the invocation and the hope for a rescue.
Moreover, the action takes place in a supernatural sacred moment between past and present those painted or photographed scenes find their natural conclusion in the video wall. The voice of Pope Francis, with excerpts from the homily he delivered during his visit to Lampedusa in 2013, recounts the human tragedy of women, men and children who crossed the ocean to safety.
Noteworthy is the inability to weep in front of the human pain where thousands of lives could be saved with less globalization indifference. The audacity and commitment of the rescuers was not enough to avert such a civil tragedy, but a strong reception and solidarity urging every man and woman of goodwill to change the world.
Finally, this stimulus for consciences invites reflection on all the tragedies involving men, women and children forced to move in search of work or economic opportunities, to join family, to escape conflict, persecution. Still others move in response to the adverse effects of climate change, natural disasters, or other environmental factors.