This is how we drew Naples

Naples – La Feltrinelli library– 23 Santa Caterina a Chiaia – From February 3 to 28, 2006
EXHIBITION GUIDE by Stefania Divertito
Naples is never what it seems. Anna La Stella, who photographed murals and graffiti across the city and its outskirts, chose not to entrust the painted walls to memory alone but to rework the images, render them transparent, and thus transform reality. For every neighborhood she visited, she created a cover—a layering of images that captures the essence of the area.
And so, the sprawling houses of lower Naples emerge from a drawing of a woman’s legs. Piazza del Plebiscito, in turn, becomes visible behind the angry gaze of a young black man. In Scampia and Secondigliano, utopian visions dominate the walls—the murals of Felice Pignataro, known as ‘o pittore.
Pignataro also lends his name to the Gridas association, an acronym for Gruppo risveglio dal sonno (Group Awakening from Sleep), which the artist founded before his passing. Its mission was to awaken the suburbs from their sleep and bring forth their dreams and creativity. In Scampia, a long wall surrounding a half-finished school was once meant to remain gray; today, paint and drawings reveal the anger of those who live the reality of being on the outskirts of society.
Spray paint has recreated the Vele (the Sails), but on this wall, the urban monster that symbolizes the neighborhood serves only as the backdrop to a painting that aims to offer hope: in the foreground there is a little girl with enormous light-colored eyes, holding a daisy in her hand. The sky is blue, her hair is blonde, and the Vele are shrouded in gray mist.