Dominic and its art which tells us about its history

In Collescipoli (TR) has just concluded the first exhibition of drawings by Dominic , an asylum seeker, who decided to share his talent

Giraffes, elephants, human faces, mothers with children, landscapes. If you wanted to find at all costs a unifying theme in the artistic production of Dominic, whose drawings in acrylic were the protagonists of arecent exhibition that took place in Collescipoli, a small village near the town of Terni, from 6 to l May 13, would be without a doubt the dominant hue: yellow. A color that strongly refers to the sun, perhaps to that of Sierra Leone, from which come both the artist and many of the objects depicted in the works on display, primarily the animals.

Colorations that are not always realistic, those designed, which in the shades blush many of the subjects painted as a warm and passionate dream. After all, Dominic has to sell it.

Arrived in Terni practically by chance, or simply because here it was sent jointly by the Prefecture and Police Headquarters upon arrival in Italy, in Reggio Calabria, after having gone through Libya and the Mediterranean, on a fine day, given its condition of applicant against the rejection of her asylum application as a holder of international protection (her country, Sierra Leone, is known worldwide for the devastating civil wars and the Ebola virus, but commissions receiving asylum applications often consider it a place where you can live safe), Dominic is located in the headquarters of the Arci of Terni to carry out the practices related to some documents.

While waiting for his turn , to deceive the wait, he takes a sheet and begins to draw. Not s i noticed that on him they laid the watchful eyes of Paola, he now affectionately calls “Mama Africa”, and Alexander.

“Could you make some others?” They ask him both observing his work. “Yes” is Dominic’s answer . The agreement is soon reached: Arci makes sure to get some materials he needs and he does the rest.

The passion for the figurative arts is not an absolute novelty for Dominic , who in Sierra Leone already drew on T-shirts, on large pieces of cloth or on the walls.

Drawing after drawing, Arci realizes that the boy has talent, but he has to refine the technique. So they contact Veronica, who in her “Accademia del Tempo Libero” is organizing a comic course that Dominicbegins to follow voraciously . And the results are not too long.

Thanks to Veronica, Daniel (the comic strip teacher) and to some passersby who can see his works, Dominic still gets colors, canvases and various materials necessary for his drawings, but the more he studies the comic and the more he gets better at the now that Veronica and Daniel have no more doubts: “We must organize an exhibition” – they think together – and go from saying to doing, if there is the right dose of dreamy will, often it is not such an impossible task.

The occasion offers the feast of the small village of Collescipoli, where the drawings of Dominic are exhibited , which also sells 3 canvases.

The exhibition of his works, in all probability, will soon be revived in another village in the province of Terni, San Gemini.

Dominic is enthusiastic about the Collescipoli experience . “I learned a lot more in one day there, left totally alone among the local population, that in many Italian courses I follow” – comments jokingly in an Italian who is still struggling, but is getting better thanks to the courses attended at the Institute “Sandro Pertini” Professional Training Course in Terni.

“I – still Dominic says in Umbriaintegra – I continue to study both at school and at the Academy of Leisure, also because these my drawings were born as well as attempts to improve my skills. Because – he adds – if one has a talent, any one, must use it, express it and share it. You can not stay home to eat and sleep, you have to show your skills to improve and beautify what surrounds us ». A message that is really hard not to share. Solar, like his drawings.