Salvatore Sparavigna

"Carne di Piperno" is part of an artistic tradition that intertwines visual documentation and metaphorical speculation, building a dialogue between the inanimate matter of stone and the fragile temporality of human flesh. Taken in Naples, a city of contrasts and cultural stratifications, the images are structured around two key elements: the faces of the "neapolitans" on piperno walls, furrowed by signs of time and embellished with non-modern elements, lights and shadows. The title itself alludes to a fusion between organic and inorganic, between what is alive and what persists, evoking the eternal cycle of life and memory. The project stands out for its clever use of black and white, which is not a simple aesthetic expedient, but an interpretative key that amplifies the contrast between light and shadow, between the plasticity of the human face and the rough surface of piperno. The old woman is placed on the left of the frame, in a partially obscured area, as if emerging from a timeless shadow. The faces, often marked by deep wrinkles, are ideally reflected in the roughness of the stone, in a play of material resonances that underlines the analogy between skin and rock: both bear the signs of time, both tell sedimented stories.
Strong architectural symbolic elements are often positioned in an area of ​​full light/shadow, almost as if to act as a symbolic counterpoint to the human figure. The piperno wall, with its porous texture and signs of erosion, becomes a metaphor for the city itself: Naples, which erodes and regenerates, which preserves the memory of those who have passed through it.
In the context of a photographic exhibition, "Carne di Piperno" can be read as a work that questions the relationship between body and space, between individual memory and collective memory. The choice to juxtapose the human figure with an architectural element is not accidental: the wall becomes a silent witness to history, an urban skin that dialogues with the lived skin of the woman portrayed. Curatorially, these images fit perfectly into an exhibition itinerary that investigates the theme of identity and permanence: the face of the "neapolitan" represents the living memory of the city, while the piperno tells a thousand-year-old story of construction and resistance and its gaze, turned towards the outside of the scene, suggests an opening, a continuity between past and future.
Photography could find space in exhibitions dedicated to the relationship between man and the city, to urban transformation, or to the cultural stratifications of Naples. It could be combined with works by Mimmo Jodice, who has often explored the theme of archaeological remains in relation to contemporary life, or inserted into a dialogue with artists who work on matter such as Alberto Burri, where the skin of the wall recalls the cracks of his Cretto.
From a sociological point of view, "Carne di Piperno" offers a reflection on the relationship between the individual and the urban context, between personal memory and collective history. Naples is a city that defines itself through its stratifications: every stone, every wall bears the signs of the generations that have lived there, just as the faces of its inhabitants tell stories of resistance, survival and transformation.
The protagonists of the photographs embody the historical memory of the city, a memory that is not only written in books, but is lived in the bodies, gestures, and expressions of those who live there. Their presence in the images suggests a Naples that is not only a city-museum, but a living organism, which feeds on the past to project itself into the future.
Piperno, a material widely used in Neapolitan architecture, here becomes a symbol of continuity. It is the stone of churches, noble palaces, but also of streets and alleys, and in these images it takes on an almost anthropological value: it is the "flesh" of the city, an urban fabric that breathes, that wears out but resists.
Last but not least, it suggests a reflection on the spirituality rooted in Neapolitan daily life. Faith in Naples is never just transcendence, but is incorporated into urban spaces, votive shrines, and symbols that dot the city and seems to want to establish a point of reference in a world in constant transformation.
"Carne di Piperno" is a work that lives on its interpretative ambiguity: it is a human portrait and an urban landscape at the same time, it is a reflection on matter and an investigation into the transience of life. Its strength lies in its ability to synthesize, in a single shot, the complex dialectic between what is ephemeral and what is eternal, between the skin of the living and the skin of the city. In the context of an exhibition, these images lend themselves to multiple readings and connections, becoming not only a single "photographic work", but a fragment of a broader discourse on memory, resistance and the human condition. The representation, therefore, of that photography that asks to be looked at carefully, because within its shadows and its lights resonate centuries of history and life resonate.