There is no geography or time limit for pain, nor can the tragic end of a young man stop its story: this is the meaning of the short journey of Seid Visin, the 20-year-old nocerino of Ethiopian origin who committed suicide, an extreme gesture linked to insuperable suffering. To testify the fragile heart of an uncertain generation comes from Turin the fake manifesto by Andrea Villa, an artist recalled by the story of Seid to launch a powerful image, asking for attention and care for the mental health of adolescents. The figure of the imaginary campaign shows a razor blade, made with the drawing of a boy with his head bowed on the cell phone. After Covid, the last drop of a distant discomfort, the story of Seid closed only in one way: on the other hand it started again, invisible and restless, necessary with its message of life.
The idea of Villa, its brand, the story shown in the reworked icon speaks of the mental health of young people, put to the test by the long months of pandemic and forced closure, with a specific reference: the tragic story of Seid. The theme emerges and becomes the center of the latest work by Andrea Villa, defined the Turin Banksy, who placed at the center of the fake posters, posted two nights ago in the streets of the city, a razor blade and freehand razors, which at the center does not have the slot for the attachment of the razor but the silhouette of a young man looking towards his hand, in which he holds a cell phone, with the hashtag # suicideprevention, suicide prevention.
The artist’s words clear the field of misunderstandings: «My work wants to focus on Seid Visin, on his suicide and on that of all the adolescent boys who have experienced this moment of pandemic crisis», explained Villa. With this work, he clarifies, he wants to raise awareness on the theme of «youth mental health, which is often a taboo, and is almost never mentioned in the art world. When a parent sees a child in difficulty – adds the artist Villa -, he threatens to send him to the psychologist, seen as an emergency and dramatic solution, when in reality it is a support to which all people should turn to try to understand the their limits and their problems “.
(atg)