La Grolla D´Oro - International Art Award

Last month I was invited to participate at the "Grolla d´oro" for its 43rd edition. It is an award born from an idea of ​​the writer Giovanni Comisso and the painter Luciano Gasper. With my great surprise I won the first place for the Photograhy award and this is why I wanted to share this with you.

LA GROLLA D´ORO

When I got the call from Massimo Zanta (president of "Art Way Gallery") I was a little surprised as I never heard of this award so I didn´t know what to make of it.. I decided to participate for the Photography section with an image I took a few years ago in Stone Town (Zanzibar).

The "Grolla d´oro" came to life during the ´60s thanks to Luciano Gasper a multifaceted artist from Treviso (died in 2005) toghether with Giovanni Comisso, thoroughbred artist, voracious of adventures, greedy for life, absolutely modern and classic at the same time. It is an award that includes 3 disciplines, Photography, Sculpture and Painting. Since 2010 it sort of disappeared from the "scene" to come back to life thanks to the work of Organizer Massimo Zanta and President Jader De Longhi.

VILLA CONDULMER

A PRESTIGIOUS LOCATION

Villa Condulmer, located in the Treviso countryside adjacent to Venice, is a Venetian Villa whose exact dating remains uncertain. The building, listed since 1930, is now home to a hotel. It was the Monti family who, in 1959, transformed the ancient residence into a hotel, handing it over to the then gourmet restaurant entrepreneur Alfredo Beltrame, owner of the El Toulà restaurant chain all over the world.

For this edition, on the 1st of October 2022 this was the place were all the works, with a large number of participants in all the disciplines, were presented. In the evening the winning artist were awarded and wth my great surprise I was lucky enough to get first place for Photography.

FLYING KID OF FORODHANI

It is the title I gave to the image I selected. It´s incredible how photography can often be 10% technique and 90 % luck .. Mix this with a few precious tips from good friends and there you go. On the shores of Stone Town a large number of kids gather every evening to jump from the jetty in front of the famous market of Forodhani. The Forodhani Gardens (also known as Jubilee Gardens and more recently as Forodhani Park) is a small park in the historical city of Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania. The gardens are located along the main seawalk of Stone Town, just in front of the most famous buildings of Stone Town, i.e., the House of Wonders and the Old Fort.

Sunset is the perfect moment to enjoy and feel the happiness of these "flying kids". It is a stark contrast with the children I see everyday on the streest of Italian cities hypnotized by cell phones and "social" medias. A refreshing moment I was able to catch, this kid looks like a dancer jumping towards the sun, towards the ocean and possibly towards his dreams. I felt an empathic connection with him, right on that moment with his arms extended and his soul open to the universe around him.

For the exhibit and for the award I was helped by two good friends of mine, Luba Roshchyna, Writer and painter, and Diego Gorgi, an artist able to give simple objects a life of their own. Luba wrote a beautiful poem that Diego helped me engrave with laser on a Piece of leather that functioned as an unusual frame enanching the "spirit" of the image.

HE WALKS...
HIS LANKY BODY
SWAYING
BARE FEET
LIKE CAT PAWS
STEPPING
SOFTLY...
DOWN TO THE WATERFRONT
HE GOES
SUN SETTING
PEACEFULLY
THERE
WHERE CRYSTAL CLEAR
OCEAN
WAITS
HE WALKS
HIS SHOULDERS
WIDE
PROUD SPRING
IN HIS STEP
HE GOES...
TO PLUNGE
INTO THE SUNSET

- LUBA ROSHCHYNA -

PALAZZO DEI TRECENTO

After the award all the works were taken to the "Palazzo dei Trecento" where the exhibit was viewable until the 12th of October 2022. The Palazzo dei Trecento was built around 1213 as an assembly hall for the various bodies of the free Municipality of Treviso, as evidenced by the notarial deeds which mention a Domus Nova Communis. Over the decades the Palazzo was the seat of the Tribunal of the Consuls, a place of public assemblies (the concioni), a place where the podestà administered justice, the seat of the Great Council, also known as the Trecento, which also met there as a supreme civic assembly (hence the name of Palazzo della Ragione derives).

For me it was an incredible achievement and an immense satisfaction to bring that thin skinny guy right in the center of a city, rich in art and history, after all his jump was a jump for me too and as everything in life, dreams happen if you take a chance ... if you jump into the unknown without fear, "Proud, in your Steps..."

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