imageLab photography Paul Struijk
photography + art workshops worldwide + mentorships
the picture I consciously did not take
“the boy was only 13 maybe 14
shorts and thin legs
pale like the wall
his hat skew.
the break was short
his backpack bigger than himself
no brother to go along
no mother to stroke his hair.
I believe one second he saw me
strangers touching
and he went on
leaving me with ages of distance
apart.”
Being a boy in Naples
Gianni vive ..
A boy has been killed .. Gianni is dead. Probably killed by another group of boys, young same age. Napoli has very harsh problems. Criminality under young boys is still there.
This is the football square he used to play with his friends and his brother. They still play football there, almost every sunny day. His little brother shows me the monument on the right to remember Gianni .. Gianni lives. He is with Maradonna giving Napoli the 3rd championship. Napoli is one big blue-white plastic party. Life and death closely connected.
Young people every day in danger
When young people have no idea what to do with their life, when school is not really working for them, when at home nobody is a good role model, when your needs are not recognized, when the future is not a rose garden .. then somebody can fall into the darkness of criminality. Young gangs in Naples walk around to find a victim to rob and sometimes it goes totally wrong. An accidental bullet can end a life like the life of Gianni, only 15yr young .. everybody sad but what can we do, really do to end this? What is it we must change? Where to start? I bring my students to the square where it happened and we talk about this tragic story .. and we create something new and hopeful out of it. We transform bad into good and we hope more people follow.
La Vita e Bella
I start my walk in the old district La Loggia heading for the most famous market, la Vucciria. In the narrow streets I am surrounded by walls with graffiti full of monsters and angels, a huge beating heart and the Godfather. Good to see there is a lot of construction activity on the ruins in this area caused by WWII and neglect.
The newly restored fountain the Fontana Garraffello (gharraf is abundance of water in Arabic) has been the only supply of drinking water for the neighborhood for centuries is working again. Boys are pouring buckets of water for Mama. “Don’t go to la Vucciria that’s dead.. go to la vecchia, piu bella Mercato del Capo at Porta Carina.. smell the herbs, fruits, fresh fish,” Nonna yells from a doorway.
I walk on with “La Vita e Bella” on my left and a gallery on the right with fish in large bowls where men with big hoses spray water over my feet laughing. The market is a long winding street full of stalls. I take a free stool to enjoy the scents and colors of the fruits and vegetables. Marketmen come to check me out and touch my shoulder or hair. You can buy anything here. An enormous diversity of people and languages make me curious about their life stories.