When we launched the call to the community of Villaggio Boncore for Radicate, Michela and Sandro did not just participate; they fused their talents into a synergistic action that became, at once, a pedagogical and symbolic gesture – the very heart of that “cultural barter” that Gregorio and Viviana set in motion through the community theatre workshop methodology.

Michela, who sows knowledge every day among school desks, brought with her to the stage the young pupils of the “Mario Morleo” Comprehensive Institute of Avetrana. It were the children of the 5th B and C classes,  the protagonists of a scene during the Restitution on June 7th, acting as co-creators of a work born from Michela’s vision and the skilled hands of Sandro, a master of Lecce stone in his pietramac laboratory in Nardò.

The heart of their proposal lies in a poetic reversal of the element of fire. In these parts, we are used to looking at flames with fear, associating them with the devastation of the wildfires that too often wound our landscape. In the installation conceived by the couple, fire returns to being a sacred and transformative element, where ash is no longer the remnant of destruction, but becomes a nourishing element – the necessary fertilizer for roots that need constant renewal. It is the fire of desire of a community that does not surrender to isolation but chooses to regenerate the bonds between its members and with a land that, though scarred by the epidemic, only awaits new energies to flourish again.

The work itself is a powerful symbol of this balance, a bridge between the terrestrial universe and the spiritual world. Describing the genesis of their work, Sandro and Michela described the installation as a brazier supported by roots: “The brazier symbolizes purification and is the connection between the terrestrial world and the divine world. Furthermore, the brazier is often associated with light and fire, which illuminate the darkness and purify. The deep and tenacious roots ensure that a tree, and by extension an individual, can resist adversity; they symbolize the bond with the land, the family, the culture, and the past, which provide us with strength and nourishment.”

In this encounter between stone, earth, and participation, Michela, Sandro, and the pupils reminded us that beauty is a collective act involving everyone’s commitment to symbolically nourish this flame, which is the desire for participation. Our most heartfelt thanks go to them for allowing Radicate to sink even deeper roots into the heart of our community.

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