Romanzo Meticcio
“Romanzo Meticcio studies the Italian post-colonial condition as a fundamental element of the contemporary life of the Bel Paese.
In my research, the prefix “post” takes on a progressive historical value. It creates a connection between the present, the colonial past, and the intranational and international migratory waves inviting a critical attitude toward the legacy of the past and a careful analysis of the effects on today’s society. The Italian State, since its unity, has created a narrative based upon the identification of places and people considered marginal. The suburbs, the South, minorities, and second-generation Italians, and the question of fascist ideology that has never been dormant and has never been addressed and resolved in an open public debate. Indeed also placed on the margins. The photographic medium in the 1930s was a fundamental tool to justify colonial policies and to represent certain situations as marginal. Photographs became a performative act of exclusion. If the process of removing colonial history has pervaded Italian culture since the Second World War, Romanzo Meticcio wants to bring this past to light. It creates new imaginaries and cultural scenarios for the future by questioning Italian identity to its core. My research does it by placing at the center what is marginalized, scarcely considered, and conceiving migrants and the following generations of new Italians in ways that go beyond rejection and victimization.”
BIO
DAVIDE DEGANO
(1990)
Davide Degano is an Italian artist who graduated with a BA in Visual Arts from the Royal Academy of Art, in The Hague, receiving an honorable mention at the Paul Schuitema Award.
Degano focuses on story-telling and long-term projects where the medium of photography becomes a tool with which he explores and reflects upon contemporary issues related to his own experiences. Degano’s work revolves around the concept of “local” as he investigates his identity and the Italian identity in a post-colonial world. He creates visuals and stories influenced by his family background. Degano’s work can also serve as an anthropological study. He uses portraiture, landscapes, environmental details, archival material, and video documentation to present the story using an interdisciplinary approach.
Since his academic years, his work has been part of several groups and solo exhibitions and featured by prestigious platforms such as Urbanautica, British Journal of Photography, ItsNiceThat, Icon Magazine, Der Greif, etc. He has published with Penisola Edizioni his first photo book, Sclavanie, in collaboration with Urbanautica Institute.
Davide Degano’s work is represented in Italy by Studio Faganel gallery, in Gorizia.