Bresson’s “Neighborhood” is prey to abandonment and decay
Sad to observe, April 20, 2023, the “neighborhood” photographed by Henri Cartier Bresson prey to abandonment and decay. Walking inside the Rioni Sassi you reach the end of via Purgatorio Vecchio and here is the rock building immortalized by Bresson in the middle of 1951. On 6 March of the same year the Hon. Michele Bianco, a lawyer born in Miglionico in the province of Matera, presents to the Chamber of Deputies the proposal for a law on the rehabilitation of the popular neighborhoods of the Sassi and the construction of homes for peasant workers and artisans.
Among other things it highlights that “when we speak of the Sassi we must think of the infernal pits and then multiply their horror by ten, in the certainty however of always remaining below reality. We need to think of homes where not only does the sun not enter but the air does not enter, where no light enters, where there are no floors, walls or roofs; where, in a word, there is nothing human… The Sassi of Matera constitute a plague that mortifies and degrades every most elementary sense of humanity and represent a mark of infamy for the civilization and dignity of our country! You will want to hasten to cancel it by welcoming this bill”.
Neighborhood, March 2023
In the photo of the closeness perpetuated by Bresson the geometric structure of the black and white in which the decisive moment is enclosed is revealedthe miserable daily life of women and children intrigued by the presence of this foreign man who discreetly takes up the Leica M3.
Epochal shot that tells of a submerged world without minimal identity and history, entered the heart and eye of old and new generations. The snapshot by Henri Cartier Bresson – considered the Eye of the Century (the twentieth century) – defines a precise space, a time and a circumstance, the memory of lives bent by resignation, captures the essence of others through their gaze and remarks the narrative capacity that these places of Sasso Caveoso release. ”To make sense of the world—writes the inimitable French photographer—one must feel involved in what is framed in the viewfinder, this attitude requires concentration, mental discipline and sensitivity. For me the camera is like a notebook, a tool to support intuition and spontaneity…”.
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