Boys don’t cry
2018    
‘Boys don’t cry’ is the result of a workshop in image education and filmmaking, which involved a group of migrant guests of the Asante Reception Centre in Palermo during August 2018. This young boys,  all come from different backgrounds, and are all waiting for those documents that could give them a new chance of life. The times can be very long, hence the idea of holding a workshop so that they can integrate through learning, creation, self-expression and knowledge of our country, thus overcoming any language and cultural barrier. The workshop alternated between moments of work in the reception center, where young authors alternate portraits with still lifes made with very few objects they own or with fruit and vegetables purchased in the nearby market of Ballarò, and visits to the Biennale of Contemporary Art ‘Manifesta 12’, an important opportunity to get to know the city as well as cultural exchange on issues that directly involve them. The final work is therefore composed of colour photographs on medium-format film by Hamissa Dembélé, Mory Sangare, Fofana Abdoulaye, Buba Drammeh and Kaita Aboubacar; a transposition by Hamissa Dembélé of the same photographs into drawings and a projection showing the black and white photos taken during the visits to ‘Manifesta 12’ and two videos always made by young migrantsdocumenting the phases of the project. ‘Boys don’t cry’ exhibition was exposed at the International Photography Center of Palermo directed by Letizia Battaglia from 19/04/2019 to 26/05/2019.