ORSARA DI PUGLIA - PROCESSION
silver print
1988
Orsara di Puglia: the town is in the streets.
Through the narrow and narrow streets, paved with the past, the procession winds its way.
The Madonna supported by men seeks Christ, the dead Christ,
the band punctuates this anguish with its funereal music.
It covers every sound and noise but fills, gestures, every movement with a renewed power.
The anguish stretches, spreads beyond the fragile plaster statue that advances with
static swaying, adorned in veils, the frame of its pallor.
Everything around seems to sink into an unreal dimension.
The church leads the procession; two rows of altar boys, a priest; nearby hooded youths
barefoot they expound the pains of man, the pains of Christ, suffocated under heavy wooden crosses.
The group's strength grows, it shapes itself under the dim lights of the street, here and there candles and candles vibrate, silent, under the blows of the band.
The search continues in desperation, gloomy figures, indistinct silhouettes move together.
Women bundled up under black shawls follow the Madonna, they are her pain and sorrow.
Who better than them?
A terrible and fascinating spectacle at the same time; it is difficult to escape the village
that advances determined and compact, it is impossible to isolate oneself from this atmosphere.
All that remains is to merge with the mass that follows the procession, with its grief.
Text by: Elena Maranzana
