Danilo Garcia Di Meo is an italian documentary photographer. He was born in Rome, after graduating from Arts High School and Academy of Fine Arts, he received his Master’s degree at the Leica Akademie Italy in Milan and at Officine Fotografiche in Rome studying with photo editor’s National Geographic Marco Pinna and with Lina Pallotta.After his studies, he started a freelance profession in full.
Quatrani (kwah-trah-nee) is the name for “youngsters” used in the italian city of l’Aquila.
It has been more than fifteen years since the earthquake that shook l’Aquila, causing people to end up homeless, injured or dead.
The children of what it is now known as The Forbidden City are now 18 years of age and have grown up without a hometown, a safe place they can call ‘home’. Nevertheless, these children have managed to find a sense of belonging in the bond they share with one another. They started calling ‘home’ the solid friendship they built by going through the same experience with remarkable strength.
‘When an earthquake takes away the place you are from you need to find it again. Find it where there not a thing in sight but you have nothing more to ask for than the company of your family and friends. Find it in those who love you.’
‘The earthquake was sort of a Year One. People don’t mention 2006, they either refer to ‘pre-earthquake or post-earthquake.’
‘It’s about relying on one another, it really is all about that.’
‘Blood is irrelevant when it comes to who I think of as a brother. Those who have gone through my same experience and have stood by me are my brothers.’
‘Parents would try their their best to make the best of the situation, they did what they could for their children, all they possibly could.’
‘I came to realise how it is to talk about it. It meant the world to me to be able to talk about it to my teachers at school.’
‘They say L’Aquila was beautiful, but how can I ever imagine it?’
‘We had to cross over the barriers to find what was left of our city. We would see things we had forgotten or things we never knew about.’
Voices of the young people who lived through these times.
This natural catastrophe changed the land, the sense of awareness and the stories of the few and the many who were involved.
Young people from a whole generation, shattered by a devastating earthquake, found themselves looking for a way to fight back, a way to pick up the pieces and move on. And they did.
Then, in 2020 the pandemic arrives and they live the new dimension: “the quarantine has made us more aware of emergencies. We realized we had that kind of maturity”.
The peer group was further consolidated: “We have now maintained the sense of the group as always, we have taken care of it”.
[Ita]
Sono trascorsi più di quindici anni dal sisma che colpì L’Aquila generando sfollati, feriti, morti. I bambini di allora sono cresciuti in questa “città proibita”, come viene definita. E’ una generazione urbana ma atipica, cresciuta senza le strutture della città, priva di punto di riferimento e dei luoghi aggreganti che ogni città offre ai suoi figli.
Questi ragazzi hanno trovato comunque un proprio spazio, la loro relazione è il luogo d’aggregazione, il rapporto che li unisce nutre un’amicizia solida e profonda, alimentata sia da esperienze condivise, sia dal senso di mancanza e dalla loro indiscutibile resilienza affettiva e sociale.
La voce dei ragazzi protagonisti di questa storia racconta di questo vissuto:
“Dopo che il terremoto ti toglie i luoghi, i luoghi ce li creiamo noi, non c’era niente ma io avevo tutto quello che mi serviva: il mio gruppo, i miei amici, che mi volevano bene.”
“Il terremoto è stato una sorta di anno zero. Le persone non dicono più “nel 2006”, dicono prima del terremoto, dopo il terremoto.”
“È il darsi forza insieme, quello, quello è il punto.”
“Non sento il legame di sangue, reputo fratello chi ha vissuto con me le stesse esperienze. Fratello è una persona che ti è stata vicino.”
“Ho capito che è importante parlarne. A scuola, i professori con i quali parlavo sono stati punti di riferimento fondamentali.”
“Dicono che l’Aquila era bella, ma come faccio io ad immaginarmela?”
“La città l’abbiamo scoperta scavalcando transenne, per scoprire quel che non ricordavi o non sapevi.”
Un sisma che ha mutato la terra, le coscienze e le storie individuali e collettive.
Una generazione che un sisma devastante, dieci anni fa, ha messo nella condizione di dover resistere, cercare e trovare una risposta di vita. Riuscendoci.
Marzo 24, 2019