FestiWall

Ragusa, Sicily, Italy,
2017

Commissioned for the 2017 FestiWall public art festival, this painting is located in the small regional city of Ragusa, Sicily, at a site known as the ‘Marsala' – a local meeting place, hangout, and hideout for the city’s youth.

Photographs by Guido van Helten & Marcello Bocchieri

Project Details

Project

FestiWall

Location

Ragusa, Sicily, Italy

Commissioner

FestiWall

Guido van Helten - L’attesa - (The Wait). Ragusa, Sicily, Italy. October 2017 Shot and Edited: Vincenzo Cascone

Located at the back of the high school Liceo Classico Umberto Primo, on face value the ‘Marsala’ is an assuming neighbourhood square – concrete steps, benches, a few trees. But for the local ragusani the site and its title are synonymous with young adulthood, the backdrop to everyday adolescent life. The external staircase that zigzags the back of the school building has been subverted through an sociological adaptation over the years, with the multi-levelled floors and stairs used for seating, chatting, smoking cigarettes, and an informal meeting place for extra-curricular activities.

Spray paint workshop with 'Terza B' - graduating class from Liceo Umberto Classico I. Ragusa, Sicily, Italy. October 2017 Photograph: Marcello Bocchieri — *Spray paint workshop with 'Terza B' - graduating class from Liceo Umberto Classico I.* Ragusa, Sicily, Italy. October 2017 **Photograph: Marcello Bocchieri**

Student from Liceo Umberto Classico I writes at the Marsala. Ragusa, Sicily, Italy. October 2017 Photograph: Guido van Helten — *Student from Liceo Umberto Classico I writes at the Marsala.* Ragusa, Sicily, Italy. October 2017 **Photograph: Guido van Helten**

The energy of this place is generational and ingrained, a location where teenagers and young people have met daily to play music, talk and hang out. As one of the young guys [I met] told me: ‘This is the only place in Ragusa where we can meet and be together.’¹

Guido van Helten worked with the school’s graduating class of Terza B to develop the mural design. The students modelled for reference subjects, and were then invited to add their own signatures to the layers of existing graffiti at the base of the artwork. For van Helten it was important to include the young people in the project, because ‘that’s their space.’² As a symbol of claiming their ownership of the space, this act not only succeeded at blending into the existing aesthetic character of the area, but also embodies the sentiment of the ‘Marsala’ and its unofficial meaning in Ragusa, Sicily.

The title of the work, L'attesa (The Wait), reflects on the moods and emotions evident in everyday adolescence – the fluctuations of anxiety and anticipation felt at this time of life.

Guido van Helten and Vincenzo Cascone direct a workshop with Liceo Umberto Classico I. Ragusa, Sicily, Italy. October 2017 Photograph: Marcello Bocchieri — *Guido van Helten and Vincenzo Cascone direct a workshop with Liceo Umberto Classico I.* Ragusa, Sicily, Italy. October 2017 **Photograph: Marcello Bocchieri**

They all say the same thing. The waiting in itself is the pleasure. . . Because while waiting you can feel not only the sensation of what you are going to discover later, you can also feel all the sensations – maybe the fear of not making it, the hope that everything goes well, or maybe a better expectation of whatever will be. During the wait you can feel all these sensations and to imagine them.³