Hajja Salesjana

Ungarelli. He paints his portraits on rough plywood panels, discarded material from a construction site. All to make a point: even with all the imperfections and rough edges of the primary material, the plywood conceals a beauty waiting to be released. In the same way, there is beauty beneath the suffering faces if we care to look with the eyes of love. Painted in charcoal and oil pastels, the predominant colour is red, to evoke the extremes of love, suffering, the Passion of Christ, the blood of the martyr, the power of Pentecost, and ultimately heaven and hell. Ungarelli’s collection is more of an ongoing project than an exhibition, because its capacity to narrate the lives and faces of humanity is in constant evolution. The emotions conveyed through the women, men and children depicted provoke reflection: the objective is not to “wow” the observer. Rather, the goal is to convey a reality that is all around us, to tell the story, with respect, attentiveness and concreteness, of those who are forced to abandon their land and their country as a result of war and persecution. In his own way, Ungarelli does what Don Bosco did: he draws Gospel-inspired attention to realities which many would rather ignore. Both, in their own way, challenge us to reflect on how we treat the least of our brothers and sisters. Like Don Bosco’s world-wide mission, Matthew 25: Keep it Human invites us to consider how we look at our brothers and sisters; to rethink our political, economic and even religious structures for a more effective response the migratory crisis spanning the planet. The exhibition ran for a month from December 2, 2021 - January 6, 2022, in collaboration with Associazione Midrash of the Capuchin friars www.associazionemidrash.it . Visit our social media platforms in English, French, Italian, and Spanish https://www.museocasadonbosco.it Museo Casa Don Bosco museo_casadonbosco 27 Jannar-Marzu 2022 hajja