Who is Simone Cerio?
I am a documentary photographer.
I have been working for almost 20 years on lesser-known topics, my practice is focused on the relationship between anthropology and art, documentation, and research. I am interested in spaces where small communities reside, often inaccessible, whose members strive to survive while simultaneously surrendering to a state of lyricism. I come from photojournalism, I am devoted to the present, but I am no longer interested in exposing an event. Instead, I focus on the symbol that contains it. I involve myself in stories related to sacredness and destiny, trying to remain within an intimate, whispered narrative, where the distance from the subject becomes a key to interpreting many of my works. For years, I have dealt with inequality and Christianity; these are my two main themes. All my projects are inspired by sacred and classical art, they undergo a long and rigorous gestation, ranging from installation art to multimedia languages and public dislocations. My research is now strongly influenced by this latter aspect.
Permanent exhibition in Reggio Calabria
The artworks and installations of Simone Cerio, exposed within the spaces of the OSN (Observatory on the ndrangheta) in Reggio Calabria, were conceived starting from the study of the expressiveness of mafia culture: figurative, dialectical, urbanistic, and emotional.
They represent the most fertile ground for the constant people habit to corrupt logic, and at the same time, for the total denial of their objectivity.
If the ndrangheta works on our hidden involvement, absolute and primordial values such as School, Memory, Home, or Family, here they transform into "investigative works": traveling on multiple levels, simulating a Dantean journey from high to low, to reconstruct a true collective discernment, essential for re-educating toward critical freedom, understanding who we truly are, or if you prefer, how we are all part of the state of affairs.
