Atlas. Video Portraits of Gallura

The video portraits created by Gaetano Crivaro and Margherita Pisano are dedicated to the stories of some of these “dancing fireflies.” These stories, told through a poetic cinematic language, constitute a fundamental component of the Atlas of Transformations in Upper Gallura. A true experimental archive, the result of a broader research project, it was conceived with the aim of bringing to light—through an exploratory, evidence-based approach—the changes currently underway in this historic subregion of Sardinia.

Among the more than forty stories that populate the atlas in narrative form, eight were selected to form the basis of the video portraits. They are: the stories of Alberto and Adelaide, two of the first pioneers who, between the late 1970s and early 1980s, moved to Gallura and chose to reinhabitate the world of the stazzi; the stories of Riccardo and Sara, Igor and Svetlana, who moved to the Galluran countryside more recently, experimenting with very different ways of reinhabiting the territory; the story of Marta and Andrea, who decided to transform an ancient stazzo—restored through their own labor—into an innovative place of hospitality and welcome; the story of Pino and Daniela, two unconventional figures of shepherd-farmers, who are inventing a new line of work by attempting to rebuild the ties between the coast and the interior; the stories of Emanuele, Francesco, and Gessica, who—by reclaiming abandoned family estates and highlighting their history—transform them, through a blend of tradition and innovation, into the seeds of new economies capable of reconnecting with the land’s natural structures.

Selected for their symbolic value, these video portraits function as “visual fragments”—a collage of moving film clips that, in addition to telling the stories of unique and irreplaceable individuals, seek not only to depict a region in transformation but also to suggest possible paths forward for this land.
One of the aims of the Atlas was, in fact, to highlight—precisely through the accounts of the protagonists of the collected stories—their desires, lifestyles, ways of relating to nature, and their ability to devise new productive activities, build cross-sectoral relationships, and adopt innovative solutions capable of combining tradition and innovation, as well as the problems and issues they face on a daily basis, we could begin to envision a project for this region. Rather than starting with a bird’s-eye view and an analysis of data, we wanted to propose a reversal of perspective: to immerse ourselves in the very fabric of this land to explore, bring to light, and reveal what the spotlight does not illuminate; to bring to the surface, empower, and give visibility to the small, unique, and irreplaceable stories that, despite everything, strive every day to keep Life moving forward. Those stories that fill the fabric of everyday life—stories that numbers and statistics do not capture—yet which make history because, as Deleuze says, “there is nothing great or revolutionary except the minor.” To achieve this, we also needed to find other ways of telling these stories. We had to be able to express the power of a name, the depth of an existence, the strength of a face, the richness of a gesture, the echo of a voice, the intensity and fragility of a desire, the struggles of each day, the fear of an impending danger, the light of hope—and, at the same time, to convey the relationships and connections woven by each of these protagonists with their own living environment: the memories it holds and that must be cherished, the relationships with the living and non-living beings that inhabit it, the imaginaries that shape it, and the other scales and worlds with which it interacts.

Only the language of art and poetry could achieve this: by evoking what cannot be expressed in any other way!

That is why we called on Margherita Pisano and Gaetano Crivaro: we were well acquainted with their work in the field of visual and relational art. So they came to Gallura and, as few others would have been able to do, through a slow immersion in the territory, a close and constant dialogue with the project we had in mind, but above all by entering and lingering with delicacy, depth, and respect in the lives of the protagonists, they managed to convey to us—thanks to the power of their poetic language made up of images and sounds—that powerful web of relationships between humans and non-humans, between nature and culture, which constitutes the uniqueness of a territory in constant flux; from which we must, of course, begin anew to imagine its future.

– Lidia Decandia