Saturday 06 November the solo show of the artist Sandro Mele will be inaugurated at Spazio Revolution (Pa). On display a series of portraits of African Americans who with their work have changed the history of America.

The exhibition originates from the deep friendship between the artist and the civil rights activist Bettie Petit (Virginia, 1935), founder of the Fitil Onlus Association and the protagonist of a video interview filmed by Sandro Mele himself.

The portraits, synthetic and intense, took shape during the lockdown, in a hard suspended time but unexpectedly oriented towards unprecedented and profound reflections.

With a pure and attentive look, Sandro Mele mends the pieces of a forgotten history, perhaps never written, making use of his own experience and precious direct testimonies.

A native of the state of Virginia, Bettie Petit carries a priceless baggage of life with her. Head of the work section of the Core (Congress of Racial Equality), an organization founded in the 1940s by James Farmer, supporter of the Non Violent Direct Action movement, he met revolutionary leaders such as Malcom X and Saul David Alinsky and followed the protest activities of the Black Panthers and Freedom Riders. From historical reconnaissance and direct confrontation with his peers, he was able to understand how much racist thought was deeply rooted in the culture of his country, dedicating his life to the redemption and civic affirmation of the African population in America and in the world.

Today, with his association, he promotes hundreds of humanitarian projects in Burkina Fasu, an independent state in West Africa ravaged by infighting, jihadist incursions, uncontrolled surveillance forces and a weak and dangerously corrupt central government.

Vigilant chronicler of his time, Sandro Mele collects Bettie's memories and contextualizes them in a new and incisive story. That unprecedented, throbbing, powerful America is intertwined with the ethical drifts of the contemporary. The heroic stories of Huey Newton, Martin Luther King, Rosa Louise Parks, Malcom X, John Lewis, Jesse Jackson or Frantz Fanon, overlap the many crimes that still crowd the pages of news today, from the tragic death of George Floyd (Minnesota, 25 May 2020) to the lack of justice for the young George Stinney jr, executed in 1944 and declared innocent only in 2014.

The artist and humanitarian worker Bettie Petit, author of the list of names translated into portraits by Sandro Mele, will be present at the inauguration.