A small piece of La Porta Della Bellezza, each piece made by one of 2,000 students at the local schools.
Dear Shaded Viewers,
In an area not exactly known for its charm, Antonio Presti has made it his mission to bring beauty into the life of the city and to make the art a form of communication that can make everyone proud of being a part of changing the landscape of the city. Children here grow up with not a lot of money and often the expression 'on a business trip' really means that your father is in jail but despite all the hardships Antonio Presti has managed to bring smiles and hope into their lives. He is a fighter, his ten year project involved the schools and the local children. Each of the 2,000 children created something for the wall. Along with the two thousand students, confirmed artists were also asked to put their art on La Porta Della Bellezza . Yesterday was the opening. I missed it so I went for a visit today. This area is considered one of the most dangerous in this part of Sicily. Later we visited one of the schools involved and each of the visiting journalists walked out with a little piece of the children's art.
So far, Antonio has invested 500,000 EUROS of his personal money to bring a little beauty into this rather dark community. There is a lot more of the bridge that he wants the children to do but he nolonger has the funds to do it. He was saying that if everyone were to give 100 EUROS for the 2,000 children that worked on the wall, he could go to the next step. For this he needs help and wants also to enlist other international artists to come and take part in his project.
Antonio Presti, the force behind La Porta Della Bellezza and the sculpture park Fiumara d'Arte and the Art Hotel-Atelier Sul MARE.
When Antonio's father died, he inherited a big construction company but he found the way things worked included crime, paying off unsavory types and decided that this kind of life was not for him and instead he decided to dedicate his life and personal wealth at that time, to bringing beauty into the lives of people that desperately needed it. It is a long hard road, but after years of an uphill battle, the wall, or at least a part of it, is finally done. Antonio is a warrior of white light.
Later,
Diane
