The young journalist Jose Luis Ledesma was only 22 years old and had just begun his career as a journalist and photojournalist for the most important Argentine daily newspaper, Crónica, when the Dirty War began. The Crónica editorial office was constantly being raided and confiscated for its journalistic material. Several of his colleagues disappeared or were murdered, and Ledesma himself was the target of several assassination attempts. Eventually, the situation became so dangerous that he fled the country, secretly taking with him some of the film rolls that had escaped confiscation. If he had been caught with them, he would no longer be there to talk about those times. The exhibition is about these surviving photographs.
Next year will mark 50 years since the start of the dirty war. And to this day, not all people have received justice, they are in the dark about the fate of their loved ones.
In his new homeland, Italy, the Italian state has granted Jose citizenship for services rendered to the state (i.e. for his journalistic activities).
The second part of the exhibition is about Southern Italy “Right and Painful”
Southern Italy is rich in its artistic values and culture. Different races and nationalities are mixed there. On the one hand, it is Italy, but on the other hand, nowhere else in Italy is there such a Babel of nations, different understandings and cultures mixed together. Different religions, different customs, and all coexisting amicably and simultaneously. All this is represented to an even greater extent in Sicily, which is located as if at the crossroads of the journeys of different peoples. The Normans and the Arabs have left their indelible mark there, creating some of the most magnificent buildings to be found in Italy. The concentration of Greek temples is second to none. It is a wonderful island, a promised land, home to so many different peoples, all of whom have enriched local life and culture. Nowhere in Italy is there such a rich and varied cuisine, such delicious yet simple dishes. And yet Sicily, once so prosperous and rich, has been poor and despised, not understood, pushed out in the intervening times.
Despite its noise, local dirtiness. But poverty is unfortunately never aesthetic, poverty has no power to do so. People’s vitality, coping with difficulties work wonders and hopefully a better life will also reach the south. The south depicted in the photos is just that, wonderful and colorful. Seen with love and respect. Exhibition curator Viive Noor
Supporters: Estonian Cultural Endowment and the City of Pärnu
