Piet[r]a by Cemre Yeşil Gönenli & Alice Caracciolo

This collaborative work departs from a legendary story from Castro, in South Italy. The Region of Puglia commissioned artists Cemre Yeşil (Turkey) and Alice Caracciolo (Italy) to make a photographic work inspired by the following legend titled The Turk’s Wife:

The Turks used to regularly occupy the coast of Salento and one of the most targeted place was Castro. During one of the incursions, they stole a precious statue of Madonna, which was assigned to one of the Turkish commanders, who later gave the statue to his wife as a gift. Even though his wife was muslim, she kept the statue as a beautiful object with an artistic value. 

The wife was pregnant and she was in a lot of pain. In spite of the prayers, the woman wasn’t able to give birth. The wife had a slave, a woman from Castro, who had been kidnapped and became a servant in Constantinople. The slave felt very sorry about her mistress and then she suggested to send the statue back to it Show More