Torino exhibition gives voice to abandoned children

Alessandro Bulgini directs the exhibition 'Una vita migliore, frammenti di storie dell’IPI di Torino' at Habitat, Ecosistema per le Culture Contemporanee in Corso Lanza 75, Torino. The show gives voice to the 'nativi'—children, now adults, who grew up in the former brefotrofio (foundling home) that now houses the exhibition space. Through original fragments such as period newspapers, historical archive documents, and video testimonies, the exhibition narrates the lives of siblings of the cradle. Large-format photographic reproductions cover the walls, superimposing past images of the building onto the present space. Cradles, nuns, and infants form the backdrop to video portraits of the nativi, who reactivate the memory of a place the city seems to have forgotten. The institute closed in 1983, followed by silence. A secrecy law prevents answers to the orphans' questions about their identity and origins. Now united in an association, the nativi fight to reconstruct their past, sharing their stories with the public. Each of the twelve rooms is marked at its entrance by the repeated word 'ma' (ma, mama, mamma), creating an emotional crescendo. The nativo Gianluca serves as an exceptional guide, offering an intimate narrative of smiles and spontaneous emotion. The exhibition is part of Habitat's annual programming, an initiative by directors Ginevra Pucci and Stefania Poddighe, rooted in Flashback Art Fair.