In Sicily every year Saint Benedict the Moor is celebrated, the first African black saint. Benedetto (1524-1589) was born into a family reduced to slavery and brought to Sicily from Africa. His father managed to get him free thanks to a vow made to his master.
Benedict was a hermit friar, thaumaturge and healer, and his fame also spread outside Italy, arriving in the Spanish colonies in America, where he became the symbol of the redemption of black communities.
“Benedict is an allegory of our times”, explains photographer Nicola Lo Calzo, who created the project between 2017 and 2019 Blessed, retracing the cult of the saint.
In his work, the photographer reflects on Benedetto’s story and on the similarities between his story and that of the Africans living in Sicily today. “The mayor of Palermo Leoluca Orlando elected him as a symbol of social peace against populism and politics against migrants. Field work or prostitution are forms of modern slavery. On the edge of agricultural plantations ghettos are formed that transform women and men into invisible people. There still seems to be a great distance between the African diaspora and the rest of the population, ”says Lo Calzo.
Lo Calzo’s project is exhibited at the Camera Center of Milan in an exhibition curated by Giangavino Pazzola, created in collaboration with the Podbielski Contemporary gallery, and divided into four chapters that retrace the events of the saint’s life.
For eight years with his work, entitled Cham, Lo Calzo documents the legacy of the African diaspora and slavery in various countries of the world including Benin, Haiti and Cuba, to explore the traces of the colonial past.
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