Omelia Contadina by JR and film director Alice Rohrwacher, 2019

Omelia Contadina was born out of the concern of JR and film director Alice Rohrwacher for the difficulties encountered by many small farmers and inhabitants of the Alfina plateau in Italy.

Alice Rohrwacher spoke to artist JR about her concerns about the destruction of the agricultural landscape, violated by the intensive monocultures with which major corporations are shaping entire territories. They both took a walk along the Alfina plateau and felt the landscape mirrored a war cemetery. so they had to hold a funeral, a funeral full of life, a beacon of hope dedicated to all the farmers.

The project started in early November 2019 with JR taking portraits of two women and two men farmers, standard-bearers of traditional agriculture, printed on large tarpaulins. Farmers of the Alfina plateau and the inhabitants of the villages of Castel Giorgio and Onano carried these in a filmed procession to the sound of a traditional local brass band. The portraits are placed in tombs dug in the fields belonging to the farmers.

The short film Omelia Contadina, co-directed with Alice Rohrwacher, premiered at the 77th Venice Film Festival (2020).

The project is the subject of a Galleria Continua exhibition in San Gimignano from September 26, 2020, to May 2, 2021.

Photo Copyright JR-ART.NET

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