IN COLORS PROJECT
People of the land, by Paolo Ricca
ARTICLE BY LUMICROMA
AUGUST, 2022
“The Poetry of Primary Colors”, Honorable Mention of the 1st IN COLORS PROJECT, is part of a photographic project with which the Italian Paolo Ricca pays tribute to those who work the land.
In the photo, three rural workers wait for their work to begin. They seem distant, each staring at the infinite. In the apparent calm of the composition, only the colors give signs of the excitement that is about to happen when the women immerse into the green fields.
This description, drawn from the author's words, sums up what his project “Il Sudore della Terra” [The Sweat of the Earth] is as a documentary, emotional, and artistic “piece”.
This is a work of recognition of deep personal and collective roots, carried out in the suburbs of Rome. Paolo Ricca defines it as "a journey through childhood memories. Today, as yesterday, I rediscover in the harshness of the fields the values embraced by my grandparents”.
In “Il Sudore della Terra” (which features this very photo) there is humility, determination and sacrifice; a human and telluric pulse where there is “a crossroads to overcome, a hard climb, the solidarity between people, the difficult relationship between children and parents, the courage of a young couple in love” – describes the photographer.
“The Poetry of Primary Colors” translates the conceptual nature of the project and the scope of Paulo Ricca's work. As he notes, his artwork centers around portraits and planes that “cancel the distance between subject and observer”.
Common in “Il Sudore della Terra” is also the presence of primary colors, raw, honest, because captured without flash. They allow him “to express the authentic dignity of the subjects”. So here is “the passion of red, the hope of green, and the whiteness of blue”. Also through the strength of the composition and the metaphor, it is rural life, arduous, yet permeable to poetry, that comes out honored.
In the photo, three rural workers wait for their work to begin. They seem distant, each staring at the infinite. In the apparent calm of the composition, only the colors give signs of the excitement that is about to happen when the women immerse into the green fields.
This description, drawn from the author's words, sums up what his project “Il Sudore della Terra” [The Sweat of the Earth] is as a documentary, emotional, and artistic “piece”.
This is a work of recognition of deep personal and collective roots, carried out in the suburbs of Rome. Paolo Ricca defines it as "a journey through childhood memories. Today, as yesterday, I rediscover in the harshness of the fields the values embraced by my grandparents”.
In “Il Sudore della Terra” (which features this very photo) there is humility, determination and sacrifice; a human and telluric pulse where there is “a crossroads to overcome, a hard climb, the solidarity between people, the difficult relationship between children and parents, the courage of a young couple in love” – describes the photographer.
“The Poetry of Primary Colors” translates the conceptual nature of the project and the scope of Paulo Ricca's work. As he notes, his artwork centers around portraits and planes that “cancel the distance between subject and observer”.
Common in “Il Sudore della Terra” is also the presence of primary colors, raw, honest, because captured without flash. They allow him “to express the authentic dignity of the subjects”. So here is “the passion of red, the hope of green, and the whiteness of blue”. Also through the strength of the composition and the metaphor, it is rural life, arduous, yet permeable to poetry, that comes out honored.