Italian excellence, the photos of the stars help healthcare

ROME When a missed exhibition becomes an opportunity to give concrete help to the health system put under pressure by the coronavirus emergency. The obligatory stop imposed by the lockdown was transformed into a solidarity opportunity by the organizers of "Italian Excellence", the photographic exhibition which was supposed to last one day at the end of April at Palazzo Altemps in Rome. And so the 70 portraits signed by photographer Julian Hargreaves of characters, celebrities, stars of music, cinema, sports and entertainment - from Laura Pausini, godmother of the initiative, to Paolo Sorrentino, Vasco Rossi, Federica Pellegrini, Eros Ramazzotti, Carlo Cracco, Valentina Vezzali, Vittorio Grigolo, Alba Rohrwacher - which could not be exhibited, are now on sale to support the purchase of respirators, machinery and equipment that can contribute to the needs of healthcare facilities. The heads of the National Roman Museum agreed immediately on the idea, Cristiano Leone the artistic director of the festival '' Ō Tempo '' promoted by Electa within which the exhibition had been scheduled, and the Italian-British photographer based in Milan. The review, underway since early March, had been suspended after the first anti-contagion provisions and then definitively canceled.
    The black and white shots collected by Hargreaves in the last five years - some made specifically for this occasion - can be purchased at the price of one hundred euros per copy in the 30X40 format. The project is managed entirely by the Bergamo non-profit organization CESVI www.cesvi.org, which will fully transfer the proceeds from the sale to the city's health managers. On the artist's website www.julianhargreaves.com/ excellence-italiana, the virtual gallery-exhibition of the photographs subject to the charity sale is online, and which refers directly to the CESVI platform for purchase. The National Roman Museum and Electa thank the public, the artists and the media partners who participated and who would have been involved in the second edition of the festival Ō Time of Design, Dance, Music, Theater, Cinema & Photography. '' The idea - explains Leone - was to show the representatives of national pride in a place that preserves our artistic traditions, to make the past and present dialogue, the precious and beautiful testimonies of antiquity kept in the rooms of Palazzo Altemps with the images of the leading exponents of the contemporary Italian panorama. When everything broke we asked ourselves how we could make ourselves useful and we thought of involving Cesvi ''. The sale will continue until the end of the emergency and already in the first week it has registered excellent results. (HANDLE).