Artist: Antonette Zema
Title: Minicurusso
Medium:
Photograph taken in 2013
Location: Cafe 27 Deakin Ave
Artist statement
Minicurusso is the name of my late grandfather’s vineyard and
farm, nestled amongst the mountains near Armo, Reggio Calabria, Italy.
After a 40-minute walk
through the rugged terrain of Calabria, we came across this lush, once
thriving, garden and vineyard. The house, built 10.8.1950, still stands today Minicurusso captures so much of my
story, my family’s story, a place that is at the heart of my family’s history
and heritage.
This is a moment of a
man, my father Mario, who returns to the place where he grew up, a place that
he had not visited for more than 20 years, a place called ‘home’. I never had the opportunity to meet my
grandfather, Matteo, but the day we made the journey to Minicurusso where he would go everyday, spending endless hours
working the land, I finally caught a glimpse of who he was. Minicurusso
was his great passion and pride, it was his vineyard and garden, growing
vegetables, fruit and olive trees, and making wine, his greatest passion of
all. The dry stone terraced garden beds,
handmade pumps to draw water from the stream saw sustainability initiatives of
the past. Minicurusso nestled amongst the landscape, the views were simply
breathtaking, as the sun came up the light peered through the mountains, in the
distance the cityscape of Reggio Calabria, the beautiful colours of the sea and
Sicily beyond.
To me, this image
captures it all, my father, my grandfather, connecting the stories and laughs of
yesterday, and today, and tomorrow… culminating to a pilgrimage that took me to
where it all began, a once in a lifetime moment, a moment that I’ll never
forget.
