Some time ago I went to visit Ivano Atzori in his new world. He brought me to the bush that reminds us the whereabouts of Sardinian bandits that (according to Time magazine)" terrorized the island's people into a grim, submissive silence known as omertà . The impoverished citizenry never dared to speak out against the outlaws, who robbed, kidnaped, blackmailed and murdered virtually without fear of punishment ".
That is of course the point of view of one of the most stubborn American propaganda tools.
The bandits were just bandits. Sardinia's isolation and peculiar identity has never been an issue and all is to be recorded as a criminal affair.
Atzori is questioning that very statement and brings back the myth of these "local heroes". he feels strongly rooted and he questionably merges his own"isolated"self with the ones of the bandits.
That is not a political statement but more of a reminder of the utmost importance of our own cultural roots. No matter if they mean good or evil. Barry MacGee once spoke of this guy (aka Dumbo at that time) stating "he represents everything right in this world by doing everything we are told is wrong."
So here we go again. Here is a sense of continuity in Atzori's body of work. Like it or not, Ivano.
These days Atzori's work focuses on the process of acceptance of our own cultural self. It is maybe one of the most fondamental questions of contemporary times where all is vanishing and conforming to the cheapest standard. Atzori is not interested. He won't compromise with the "Art System" that has rules a bandit won't like. He won't show his face at every opening "to meet the right people". He just won't.
**In 1954 Nigerian writer Amous Tutuola wrote My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.
"This novel recounts the fate of mortals who stray into the world of ghosts. The 'bush' is in the heart of the tropical forest, an impenetrable thicket left even after the rest of the forest is cleared for cultivation. Here, as every hunter and traveler knows, mortals venture at great peril, and it is here that a small boy is left alone"
Ivano's is probably busy sorting out those very ghosts.
His own island it's his own self. His work of art is yet to be discovered. More to come. We hope so.
