Palazzo dei Musei, Reggio Emilia, Italy
22 November 2025 – 28 February 2026
SOUVENIR & ROOTS
IN THE ETHNOGRAPHIC COLLECTIONS IN REGGIO EMILIA
Georgia Cantoni, curator
People have always taken things out of their original context and given them a new value and a new role as mementoes. We all have them. We call such objects souvenirs, and to be defined as such they must be chosen, collected or purchased as a means of recording a visit to place or a meeting, the memory of which we want to preserve.
It is the human act of collecting a souvenir that creates that connection between the subjective experience and the object that will evoke it, the idea being that the object contains within itself the genius loci, the salient features of its original context, often idealised.
Choosing an object, and changing its destiny, is more often than not a kind of game, not necessary but fated, involving a sort of enchantment. There is evidence of such human behaviour dating back to prehistoric times, when small objects of no practical worth – minerals, fossils or shells – were collected and kept for use as ornaments. Their discovery in funeral and ritual contexts indicates furthermore that they were invested with a higher, magical and/or religious meaning, which transformed a small stone or a bone into an amulet, left beside the deceased to accompany them on their journey to the other side.
Throughout human history, the appropriation of souvenirs has often resulted in theft or pillage, carried out for various reasons by travellers, researchers and armies; predatory behaviour that is part of a colonial vision that still today we struggle to acknowledge or to stigmatise. Many items in the ethnographic collections of museums in the West now give us pause for thought, urging new narratives and raising ethical questions of reparations or return.
The matter of narratives is particularly pressing, since exhibiting a travel souvenir has an almost ritualistic component: in recounting the adventure, proof must be shown, evidence of the experience, so as to gain credibility in our social standing and enable our self-promotion. With the great navigators of the 16th century, the display of exotic finds became a social ritual, inspiring the aristocracy to fill cabinets of curiosities with extravagant things, Wunderkammern that gained admiration, driven by the travel stories that flourished at that time. Subsequently, many travellers began collecting souvenirs, artefacts that over time became the basis for museum displays, marking the transition from private to public collecting, whereby works and objects previously accessible only to the elite were made available to the public.
In this transition, the souvenir took on a new status as an ethnographic object, an exemplum to be admired and studied, no longer necessarily connected with the travel experience that had uprooted it from its original context. A crucial turning point characterised by narratives steeped in civilising rhetoric, the very same that created the cultural stereotypes that still survive today and that we continue to find signs of both in museums and in the globalised mass production of souvenirs. Production that has also been strongly criticised: for example, by the world of design, such as at the 2025 Venice Biennale of Architecture – and for good reason, given the indifference to sustainability practices and the proliferation of products lacking any design credentials or connection to the region. Indeed, Venice’s best-selling souvenir is a copy of the Venus of Urbino by Titian, followed by a mug bearing the stylised image of Frida Kahlo.
It thus seems more than ever that an urgent reflection is needed on this collection of objects to restore to them a freedom of meaning beyond the image created to justify their exploitation, identifying paradigms that were perhaps invisible to those immersed in them, but that today can no longer be ignored.
The Exhibition
We have no established approach to the study of souvenirs because they have only rarely been the subject of academic consideration and because any attempt at classification comes up against multiple lines of enquiry, with countless exceptions and hybrid forms. Their fascination lies partly in this evasive multiplicity, which would involve several disciplines. The criteria used in this exhibition, therefore, are geographic origin, social origin and date of origin; dates, however, are often approximate, differentiating artefacts from the past (which reflect artisanal traditions) from more modern souvenirs (i.e., globalised industrial products).
As well as exploring what the souvenir represents – a universal phenomenon of material culture – the aim is to better understand the value of such objects in social and cultural processes, especially in the community of Reggio Emilia. On a shared journey – involving a number of public and private bodies – souvenirs of various kinds have been gathered and displayed together for the first time, material evidence of the history and life of a city that has always been focused on openness and inclusion. The exhibition began with the rearrangement of the ethnographic collections at the Musei Civici and offers visitors an exploration of souvenirs as objects of memory and points of connection, which are at the heart of museum displays and integral to the city’s cultural heritage.
The aim is to invite the community to take a look at itself through a selection of emblematic objects, which today reflect an image of a multi-ethnic and inclusive society.
The exhibition is organised around six key areas, with contributions from experts in various fields and disciplines:
1 – Shells, the earliest souvenir, represent our most innocent memories: of childhood holidays at the seaside, of small fingers running over the smooth or rough surface of a valve, or of a child’s ear enchanted by the sound of the waves in a storm. And so the magic evoked by a shell begins our story, reverberating with examples that have travelled far across space and time to reach us;
2 – The exotic souvenir, the story of which is closely interwoven with travel, from medieval pilgrimages and the age of the Grand Tour, to collections that formed the original basis for the earliest ethnographic museum collections. Travel as an experience to enhance one’s knowledge, a means of personal refinement and self-promotion, but also of the subjugation of the other. This is exemplified in the exhibition’s narrative through a selection of materials from public and private collections; Ivan Cenzi, author and collector, writes about the colonial souvenir par excellence, which began with the trade in human remains, from fragments of Egyptian mummies to more recent practices that raise new ethical questions;
3 – Souvenirs of war and the Resistance. Italy’s colonial past, subject to a collective suppression that has prevented recognition of the profound colonial influence on Italian culture and identity, is evoked by the sabres belonging to Sulaymān Zubayr and subsequently to Romolo Gessi, who served in Italy’s military campaigns in Sudan; also by the memorabilia and images of fascist propaganda donated by Rossi. All said items are held at the Musei Civici. Josè Javier Aliaga Cárceles, professor at the University of Murcia in Spain, explores the core group of souvenir images in this donation originating from a wartime experience in Italian East Africa.
On the other hand, the souvenirs in the Museo Cervi di Gattatico in Reggio Emilia are evidence of a lay person’s pilgrimage that still today symbolises the profound attachment to the values of the Resistance; Mirco Carrattieri, historian and university professor, writes about this.
4 – Souvenirs of international relations: souvenirs of the exchanges realised by Reggio Emilia’s institutions that led to the city’s international role. These are objects from the municipal collection; from the Mondinsieme Foundation, a body that promotes integration, proactive citizenship and intercultural dialogue; from the E35 Foundation, which oversees the city’s international relations; and from Istoreco, the Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Society in Reggio Emilia. Gianluca Grassi, of the Mondinsieme Foundation, writes about these objects, which have been collected and publicly displayed for the first time. A space on the first floor is devoted to sculptures by the Makonde people of Pemba, Mozambique, a tribute to the political and social partnership between the country and Reggio Emilia, with 2025 marking 50 years since Mozambique’s independence, an event written about by Chiara Torcianti from Istoreco.
5 – Personal souvenirs: the memento of a holiday or religious journey. Souvenirs of mass tourism today, as in the 18th century, are status symbols, objects to be talked about and admired, but have proliferated through mass production, digital technology and globalisation. These are objects that are part of our everyday, such as the memory of a meeting or the escape from a routine so as to imagine ourselves elsewhere. Paolo Pecere, writer and Professor of the History of Philosophy at Roma Tre University, writes about this, exploring the connection between memory and narrative. Franco Motta, Professor of Modern History at the University of Turin, writes about shrine merchandising; the latter originated from ancient holy relics, a form of sacred ready-to-wear that accompanies religious tourist journeys.
Illustrated postcards for decades served as personal mementoes of trips, holidays, love affairs and a way of sharing the wonder of a moment. The postcard, like holiday photos, selfies and videos today, is a carefree memento to which Michele Smargiassi, journalist and writer, has composed an ode: to a far-from forgotten souvenir that lives on today through its inevitable heirs, which are the myriad tools offered by the digital world and the global network.
6 – Souvenirs inspiring creativity. The global success of the souvenir invites us to reflect on the notion of so-called souvenir-ness and on the inspirational power of souvenirs themselves, since so much creative output — artistic, artisanal, and commercial — draws energy from the stereotypes captured by these mementoes. We have chosen three areas of focus:
The souvenir in the poetry of the artist, as in the Greetings series by Angelo Davoli who, beginning with a postcard, created urban visions, focusing on the contrast between old and new, true and false, foreshadowing dystopian cities in a future that seems both bleak and imminent. This visionary work is accompanied by the writings of Leonardo Merlini, journalist and author;
Paola Righi, expert in business communications, writes on the emblematic souvenir – the corporate promotional giveaway – which differs from the travel souvenir by being a not-for-sale consumer product explicitly intended to manipulate;
the traditional costume in its role as a memento has become a souvenir par excellence, undoubtedly the most emblematic of all in aspiring to be a popular representative of local culture.
Collected jointly in collaboration with the Mondinsieme Foundation, which coordinated the work of the assembly of associations of residents with an international background involved in the initiative, the community’s traditional costumes demonstrate their role as cultural heritage but also as an ever evolving expressive and creative component. These are displayed juxtaposed with contemporary garments, prototypes created by students on the international master’s degree in Creative Knitwear Design at Modateca Deanna. They display clear traces of continuity as well as cultural and creative cross-pollination, where identities and origins are unmistakably recognisable. Traditional costume has always held a powerful allure, and serves as a continual source of inspiration for the fashion industry. Modateca Deanna offers an advanced educational experience linked to a regional centre of excellence in Reggio Emilia that still today inspires new possibilities for the future.
Georgia Cantoni, curator
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Souvenir and Roots: memory, objects and revivals
In contemporary society, saturated with endless connections and information, the souvenir has become a cultural device that questions how we relate to memory. The “tangibility of travel” was for centuries protected by objects that, as fragments of other places, became rooted in the corners of our home. Today, however, digital sharing has transformed memory into an instantaneous gesture, a snapshot that scrolls across our screens before disappearing into digital noise.
The intangible souvenir emerges from and feeds off circulation, i.e. views and likes; photos, stories and geolocation are instant proof that speak more to others than to the travellers themselves. They aren’t designed to take root but to ensure social visibility. It’s the “possession of possession”: it’s not the object that counts but the ability to demonstrate having been somewhere. When everything is reduced to an image, time breaks down, loses irregularity, no longer carves out furrows in our memory.
In the face of this superficiality, the material souvenir is reborn as a means of resistance. Its physical presence requires care and space; it gets damaged; it ages; there’s the risk of it falling from a shelf and, in doing so, it awakens an unexpected memory. You turn it over in your hands; you perceive its texture and weight and this tangibility gives it the weight and dimension of memory. The object does not scroll; it stays put and positions itself in space.
It is with this gesture of putting down roots that the theme of this exhibition – Souvenir and Roots – intersects. Each material souvenir carries with it not only the memory of the place visited, but the memory of its origin: hands that made it, a tradition that shaped it, a landscape that gave it colour and form. The object becomes a moveable root, a bridge between here and elsewhere, between the present and a past that would otherwise fade.
The digital economy, by contrast, promotes a form of consumption without accumulation; we consume without leaving a trace. Without objects, which emerge as small reliefs on the smooth surface of daily life, memory loses its roughness. Reintroducing the object, therefore, means restoring an irregular dimension to time, capable of surprising. It means relearning the critical gesture, the act of mindful selection: choosing not in order to possess, but in order to crystallise and confer meaning.
At the same time, it would be limiting to contrast the physical with the intangible too rigidly. The digital souvenir opens up forms of collective memory; it creates distributed archives, simultaneous narratives, communities of moments. But its effectiveness is short-lived; abundance creates oblivion, and recollection tends to merge with that of millions of others. Uniqueness thins out; emotion becomes uniform.
The challenge, then, is to find a balance; to integrate the speed of the image with the slowness of the object, surface with depth. In this scenario, the material souvenir can regain centre stage not as a mere gift item, but as a place that holds on to our roots. An object capable of recounting worlds, artisanal cultures, traditions. Not a tourist fetish, but a vibrant testament that continues speaking when the photograph has been forgotten in some digital archive.
What is left when everything dematerialises, if not the question of our relationship with time? What signs can still resist speed? The physical souvenir, with its silent persistence, offers an answer: to stay put means to take root. And to take root does not prevent movement, but gives it form, direction, depth, meaning.
Between image and object, between circulation and settling, between lightness and weight, a space opens up for a revived memory. A memory that does not merely flow, but returns – like a root that, even when moved, continues to breathe.
The history of the souvenir, the souvenir in history, the souvenir as history, history within the souvenir…an infinite loop, a short circuit of two words that endlessly interweaving. A Yin and a Yang with fleeting boundaries, a dance, a courtship between past and present to give life to the future, to keep the future alive. To sustain it with the only word capable of interrupting this timeless cycle…memory.
The object as witness, stolen, violently torn away, given, bought, collected, studied…the object displayed, cared for, loaded and unloaded with meaning, framed and unframed with sense according to fashions and currents of thought, evolves into Chinese boxes of memories within memories.
To speak of souvenirs in a museum is obvious and at the same time makes no sense, but it is in the spaces between subjects and objects that wonderful stories emerge…
Pierpaolo Caputo, curator
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1 – The shell, the earliest souvenir
The magic that connects the shell to memory goes back to ancient times. We could say they’re part of man’s childhood, since they’re some of the earliest souvenirs found, dating back to prehistoric times. In various cultures, the shell is a rich and versatile symbol, used as a protective amulet: it often evokes concepts that refer to what is considered the female dimension, of purification and fertility. The shell, which emerges from the ocean and that alludes to the mother’s womb, in part owing to its shape, serves to symbolise birth, life and rebirth. In Greek culture it is creator of the goddess Aphrodite, in Roman and Christian funerary art, it is a symbol of life and resurrection. The image of Venus emerging from the sea on a shell – as in Botticelli’s most famous work – sublimely encapsulates the concepts of purity and beauty.
Since the Middle Ages, in various centres of Christianity, the shell has been suggested to travellers as a souvenir, proof of their devotion, an allegory of purification, often associated with the sacraments of baptism. A symbol of introspection, illumination and wisdom, it’s closely linked to the spiritual journey. In particular, the shell of St. James became the pre-eminent emblem of the Cammino di Santiago, or St. James’ Way: it is worn as proof of having completed the pilgrimage. In the secular sphere, between the 17th and 18th centuries, it emerged as a distinctive, elegant and delicate feature, giving rise to an ornamental style known as Rocaille, characterised by the use of shells, small stones, unusually shaped rocks, and artificial stalactites.
The historic roots of the shell’s profound symbology have made it an important decorative element in many objects, especially religious ones, up to the present day.
2 – The exotic souvenir, the museum’s origin
The history of the souvenir is closely linked to that of tourism and also involves the collections out of which the first museums were established.
From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, souvenirs were tangible evidence of the travel experiences of the elite: the journey was seen as a source of knowledge and a means of personal improvement.
While medieval pilgrimages led to the start of souvenir production, from the 18th century, travel became systematic exploration, in which observation became a method of understanding the world and the emergent Grand Tour became a fundamental part of a Gentleman’s education. The Grand Tour had its stop-off points, with Italy a favourite destination: travel diaries proliferated, listing the speciality items to be collected in each place as souvenirs of distinction. Travellers sought out souvenirs such as paintings, including landscapes and views of Venice, Rome, Naples, Pompeii and Herculaneum, statues of emperors and mythological figures, furnishings, jewels and pocket watches. Within this context, Reggio Emilia was known for its prized horse spurs. Many souvenirs were produced on commission: Rome had a network of manufacturers, artists and artisans, while European artists accompanied the nobility, disseminating classical tastes and interest in different peoples and ancient Roman artefacts; archaeological souvenirs were used to decorate homes, heralding a mass industry and culture based on ancient art. A deluge of travel trophies inundated Europe, ending up in private collections and in the nascent museums of science, archaeology and ethnology.
Between the end of the 18th and start of the 19th centuries, the finds at the British Museum were classified to favour academic research into ethnology and archaeology. At Scandiano, in the Province of Reggio Emilia, scientist Lazzaro Spallanzani held a private museum collection – which after his death in 1799 became part of the patrimony of the city of Reggio Emilia. The collection included natural finds, souvenirs, ethnographic objects and travel mementoes. Palaeontologist Gaetano Chierici, on the other hand, established the first ethnographic section in the Museum of Storia Patria in Reggio Emilia in the second half of the 19th century, in parallel with the emerging discipline of palaeontology. It was enriched with material from several continents: the colonial expansion of the European powers, in parallel with increasing knowledge, saw those cultural stereotypes becoming established, the same ones that helped shape early museum narratives and that still persist today.
Further information:
• Ivan Cenzi, Macabre souvenirs
3 – Souvenirs of war and the Resistance | Souvenirs of suffering
If there is a category for the memories of war, it is the “souvenirs of suffering”. Personal objects of soldiers, archaeological finds and purloined artworks, commemorative postcards of executions and lynchings, and even the human remains of the slain enemy led experts to coin the expression “Dire Souvenir Mania”, referring to a real mania for macabre souvenirs, widespread in the US in the early 20th century. Anywhere in the world where there has been an occupation, the violence against and control of the subjugated people has generated the production of “souvenirs of suffering”, a physical symbol of the conditions which keep colonial supremacy going.
Such souvenirs can be defined as “anti-souvenirs”, in that, if the souvenir’s function is generally to create narrative continuity with the past, then these, conversely, are often not nostalgic celebrations of times gone by but express the wish to maintain some distance from the story itself.
Nevertheless, such “anti-souvenirs” recall the complexity of the narrative that underlies all souvenirs in general: such as the objects collected in illuministic cabinets of curiosities that represent a thirst for knowledge, but also bear witness to pillage and conquest; or as exotic travel souvenirs displayed by public institutions, such as museums, that wish to evoke the essence of ancient and distant peoples but that have often reduced remote cultures to simplistic and degrading stereotypes.
Further information:
• José Javier Aliaga Cárceles, The war souvenir
• Rosa Anna Di Lella
3b – Souvenirs of war and the Resistance | Museo Cervi
Museo Cervi is located in the lower Reggio Emilia plain, between the towns of Gattatico and Campegine, in the farmhouse which the Cervi family moved into in 1934. The Cervi family were share-crop farmers and, in the early 1930s, took decisions that proved them crucial both in terms of production and in the consolidation of a firm stance against the fascists.
All shot at the same time in Quarto Camurri in December 1943, as a reprisal, the story of the seven sons of Genoeffa and Alcide immediately took on a powerful symbolic value. Their home – a focal point in the Second World War providing practical support for antifascists unwilling to be conscripted and for those in opposition to the war – became a favoured destination for all those aligning themselves with the values of anti-fascism and democracy.
Casa Cervi, the Cervi family home, became a “Museum of the history of farmers’ manoeuvres, of anti-fascism and of the Resistance during the military campaigns”. This followed a spontaneous process of transformation and a series of museum projects, culminating in the fitting out of the house in 2002 and, subsequently, the refurbishment of the ground floor rooms in 2021.
Every year, Casa Cervi receives thousands of visitors of all ages as the result of efforts to promote key dates in the civic calendar, and thanks to the planning of research, educational and museum activities; this is alongside activities to promote its legacy, both tangible and intangible, all with a focus on communicating the meaning of the Resistance and its values.
Over time, secular pilgrimages by official delegations from all over the world, by organised groups and by individuals, led to the creation of a collection of the souvenirs visitors left behind to mark their visit. Such souvenirs attested to their connection, often personal, with Casa Cervi and the wish to ensure, with a gift or tangible gesture, the passing on of the story and memory of the Cervi family, through its repetition. This established a sort of highly original ‘gift ritual’; from the post-war period almost until the end of the 20th century, this became an integral part of the transformation of the farmhouse into a museum and place of remembrance.
The souvenir collection was recently reorganised as part of the RE-ORG project, promoted by the Region of Emilia Romagna, which led to the establishment of the “Stored Items and Legacy Network”. There are twelve participating museums from the region, which work together to manage and promote this stored legacy.
Further information:
• Mirco Carrattieri, Souvenir of a journey through time
4 – The gifts of international relations
There are gifts that originate from the activities and life of certain city institutions that develop, record and conserve the memory of international relations.
The gifts, collected by the Municipality of Reggio Emilia through the E35 Foundation for international planning, are a reflection of the twinning agreements and projects realised with various cities and institutions worldwide developed since 1962.
Other gifts are part of the Reggio Africa archive and the personal archives of those who have contributed to strengthening these friendships.
The associations of the diaspora from Reggio Emilia that are members of the Assembly of the Mondinsieme intercultural centre strengthen new prospects for dialogue thanks to those that create new opportunities for dialogue. Such gifts speak of relationships with other countries, crossing borders and connecting here with elsewhere.
Further information:
• Gianluca Grassi, Without stones there is no arch
• Chiara Torcianti, The gift from Pemba
5 – Personal souvenirs and autobiographical memory
The question of authenticity
While at the start of the 19th century, travel memories were often represented by local artisanal artefacts and objects, by about a century later, mass production was becoming more widespread, along with a global network of manufacturers and distributors. The increasing availability of ever more innovative souvenirs became a marketing tool for tourism-related industries: consequently, the phenomenon of counterfeiting re-emerged, in the wake of a tradition dating back to medieval pilgrims and the Grand Tour, and at the same time sparked interest in the concept of authenticity.
The more attentive travellers sought out souvenirs rooted in local tradition, since folkloristic objects normally seem more authentic than mass-produced products. The idea of contemporary authenticity, that in the 21st century remains steeped in preconceptions of exoticism, is only recognised in cultures still perceived as traditional. In this recoiling from modernity, which has become a hallmark of modernity itself, tourists often don’t appreciate the authentic products of a foreign culture, preferring to see other cultures through a traditionalist lens, which leads indigenous people to deliberately present themselves in a stereotypical way in order to potentially reap profit. In the 1970s, anthropologists and sociologists defined this behaviour conditioned by expectations as “simulated authenticity”.
The home as a family archive
Autobiographical memory renews the past through reminiscences, objects, smells, sounds and emotions that give shape to a person’s identity. Objects, especially souvenirs, are central to the process of constructing the self, a solid base from which to begin the narrative of one’s own story. Collecting records of one’s life and preserving them is a method for constructing identity: significant objects, mementoes that speak of past experiences, multi-coloured “memento mori” that recall the moment the object was found, assist in the construction of the self and support a state of identity well-being.
Within this process, the house acts as an historical family archive, offering continuity and context for the preservation of such fragments. Nevertheless, souvenirs and objects that have a central role in delineating personal biographies and identities are influenced by the dynamics of global consumption and standardisation: understanding this dualism, therefore, is essential for an accurate interpretation, a critical reading of autobiographical memory and of practices for conserving the home as a family archive.
Further information:
• Paolo Pecere, Remember and reinvent
• Franco Motta, Souvenirs and holy relics: the familiarity of memory, from the sacred to the everyday
• Michele Smargiassi, Cartolinesco
6 – Souvenirs inspiring creativity
The global success of souvenirs has led to souvenir-ness, a mania for mementoes that continues over time to inspire, so much so that creative production – artistic, artisanal, corporate – continues to draw strength from the traits, characteristics and stereotypes captured by such objects. Within this vision, there are three points worth focusing on:
the souvenir as art, found for example in the Greetings series by Angelo Davoli in the form of vintage postcards, on which the artist has imagined dystopian cities frozen in a sombre future suspended in time; the emblematic object of souvenir-ness, branded gifts used in corporate relations; the traditional costume, souvenir-garments to accompany the tourist on a journey, but also the migrant, a conveyor of culture and identity and at the same time an expressive and creative element, always evolving.
Further information:
• Leonardo Merlini, The future (is a postcard that never arrives)
• Paola Righi, Frankly superfluous
• Modateca Deanna, A journey though past, present and future to inspire new generations
7 – The souvenir-garment: roots of identity and creativity
Traditional clothes are fascinating and exercise such a powerful attraction that fashion too has always taken inspiration from them.
The collaboration with the Mondinsieme Foundation led to the realisation of a visual journey focused on textiles, clothes and accessories, which began as a participatory project involving eight intercultural associations from Reggio Emilia with links to eight countries of the diaspora: A.B.R.E.E.R. – the Association of Citizens from Burkina Faso in Reggio Emilia and Emilia Romagna, the Malian Badegna Association (Mali), the Association of Nigerians of Reggio Emilia and Province, the Association for the Development of the Tamil Community in the Reggio Emilia Region (Sri Lanka), the Filipino Bahaghari Association, NSAA Kente Group (Ghana), the Moldovan Plai Association, and the Albanian Shqiponja Association.
The participating associations have knowledge of and understand the symbolic and spiritual meaning of textiles and the ways of dressing in various geographic regions of the world, as well as the emotional and family memories associated with the clothes displayed. Garments are not mere artefacts: they’re part of personal experience, they evoke international travel, they’re some of the elements around which associations are built. They maintain a close tie with whoever has worn them or received them as a donation and chose to display them in the exhibition. Certain items also bring with them a complex colonial legacy and processes of redefining the significance associated with customs of dress.
This exhibition invites visitors to move past the fixed concept of “traditional costume”, which can bring with it stereotypical ideas of the people wearing it. Like identity, dress is a dynamic and multifaceted area in which tradition evolves in line with the social developments that influence clothing tastes and practices.
Opening up the imagination means deconstructing long-established ideas and asking oneself what it is that textiles and their story can tell us, letting ourselves be guided by those who have chosen what to display and then sharing its significance with the public. Wearing a garment is never just about celebrating a rite or evoking the past: it’s about a body representing itself and communicating how it wants to be recognised in the social sphere. In the hands of stylists and fashion designers of the diaspora, some of whom working in Italy, garments and fabrics are reinterpreted and become an integral part of the present. Worn in a personal and creative way, they continue to express identities that are living and in movement.
That is why, in the exhibition, the clothes of the communities living in Reggio Emilia are placed in dialogue with other clothes of professional contemporary creativity – prototypes created by international master’s students at the 1st Level in Creative Knitwear Design at Modateca Deanna – who show evident signs of persistence and cultural contamination, in which identity and roots are clearly recognisable.