Castello D’Albertis Museum of World Cultures in Genoa hosts the new exhibition "Roots. From Genoa to the world and back," in collaboration with Matteo Sicios.

Multifocal and multivocal, this exhibition stems from the desire to juxtapose the photographic narrative of Captain Enrico Alberto d’Albertis traveling around the world with the contemporary one by Matteo Sicios, who in Genoa invited people from all over the world to be photographed with their cherished object. Objects as discreet protagonists. It is not their material value that makes them special, but the intertwining of emotions and memories they hold, weaving a narrative that connects past and present. The exhibition reveals a network of lives that, originating from distant lands, have intertwined here, in Genoa, creating a fabric of shared experiences.

"What is the object you cherish the most, the one you would never part with? Bring it with you when we meet: we will have a chat and take some photos, both of you and the object. It doesn't necessarily have to be linked to your country of origin; it just needs to be special to you."

From this simple question arises a journey of emotions and memories, a project of photographic portraits that captures both the objects and their guardians. They are not just mere "things": each object, in the hands of its owner, becomes a silent and active witness of emotional bonds and personal experiences. The objects thus reveal themselves as precious symbols that encapsulate and preserve intimate stories, evoking distant roots and significant moments. On the other hand, one cannot forget that the Captain turned his cherished objects into a museum: in this exhibition, some have been selected, significant testimonies of d'Albertis' passions, foremost among them being traveling and the sea. Alongside them, through some shots from the photographic archive of Captain d'Albertis taken around the world between the 19th and 20th centuries, an attempt has been made to reconsider the theme of travel, bringing to light landscapes, sometimes enigmatic, or passengers of all kinds with their life on board during navigation. People often constitute the focus of the images in the archive, testifying to the central role that relationships play in this journey around the world, returning enriched with people, objects, places, and encounters to where one has their roots.

Among the objects and images selected from the museum's collections, there could not be missing, finally, a space dedicated to raising awareness, where we realize the need for a new narrative around past events and the Captain's "fetishes," a narrative that triggers new storytelling procedures compared to the dominant view born in the times he lived in, the era of colonialism and the creation of the myth around the figure of Christopher Columbus.