Tales from the Lands of India

The Great Tree of Rebirth

The great tree in Indian tales sinks its long roots in traditional storytelling, a tangle of surprisingly ancient knowledge able to renew itself continually by generating new shoots. Let us look beyond simple Western stereotypes, and see an India which reveals the humanity in the divine and the ability of man to transcend his own limits.
Where we find ascetics covered in ashes, bearded and fiery maharaja, graceful dancers, wily merchants, rustling silk, indigo and amaranth cloth, yellow saffron and peacock feathers, moving through widely diverse settings: pink sandstone palaces that resound with the tinkling of anklets, bazaars wreathed in spice, yet also snow-topped mountain peaks, desolate deserts, sacred rivers, lush forests inhabited by sharp-witted animals. A boundless humanity on the move, whose roots lie in the Ganges and whose heart is to be found in the Himalayas, and of which Sàrmede presents every subtle nuance. And behind one India, there appears another, and yet another: in search of its core, the identity between that which is infinitely great and infinitely small, between the tree and the seed, between the universe and man.

Europe and msterious India

For centuries, the adjective ‘mysterious’ used by European travellers to refer to India has revealed a superficial approach, an alibi so as not to truly have to venture into the depths of thousands of years of Indian culture. Yet it was the Europeans who, in the 1800 as they passionately translated ancient texts in Sanskrit – a language solely used by the Brahmin caste – ensured that the Indian culture became widely known among the Indians themselves.
Europe and India, a historical relationship characterised by shadows, by foolish mistakes, yet also – currently – by a great desire for knowledge and a mutual fascination.
A passion that European illustrators demonstrate at Sàrmede in the unpublished representation of India's fairytale imagination.

Publication of the children’s books

Il Grande Albero delle Rinascite, fiabe delle terre d’India
It will be published by Franco Cosimo Panini Editor in co-operation with “le immagini della fantasia”.
Project organiser: Monica Monachesi - Texts: Luigi Dal Cin
Illustrators: Laura Berni, Giuliano Ferri, Aurelia Fronty, Véronique Joffre, Dileep Joshi, André Letria, Jacqueline Molnár, Simona Mulazzani, André Neves, Linda Wolfsgruber, Alessandra Vitelli.
Presentation:  23 October – h. 15.00, Town Hall of Sàrmede

Ho sognato!
It’ll be published by Kite Edizioni in co-operation with the International School of Illustration of Sàrmede.
The book is dedicated to the culture and history of India, this year’s guest country of Le immagini della fantasia.
Text: Luigi Dal Cin - Illustrator: Laura Berni
Presentation: 31 October – h. 20.45, Town Hall of Sàrmede

The illustrators:
Cecilia Afonso Esteves, Elham Asadi, Anna & Elena Balbusso, Nicoletta Bertelle, Cristina Biazetto, Élodie Brondoni, Filippo Brunello, Chiara Carrer, Candia Castellani, Jesús Cisneros, Livia Coloji, Eleonora Cumer, Miguel Ángel Díez, Silvia Fabris, Sherley Freudenreich, Aurélia Fronty, Adrià Fruitós, Ivan Gantschev, Cristina Gibellato, Dileep Joshi, Svjetlan Junaković, Kęstutis Kasparavičius, Adriana Keselman, Karen La Fata, Anabella López, Giovanni Manna, Manuela Marchesan, Beatriz Martin, Francesca Massai, Jacqueline Molnár, Valentina Morea, Fereshteh Najafi, Maurizio Olivotto, Barbara Ortelli Pin, Gabriel Pacheco, Pierre Pratt, Chiara Raineri, Alessandra Roberti, Michael Roher, Nooshin Safakhoo, José Sanabria, Emanuele Scanziani, Tom Schamp, Loretta Serofilli, Manuela Simoncelli, Sarolta Szulyovszky, Kaatje Vermeire, Francesca Zoboli.

The International School of Illustration:
Luisa Aiello, Daniela Alberti, Susanna Bacchetti, Elisabetta Benfatto, Laura Borras, Rossana Bossini, Rossana Bossu, Giulia Buzzoni, Aurora Cacciapuoti, Elisabetta Cagnolaro, Letizia Carugati, Serena Colongo, Isabella Costerman, Chiara Criniti, Chiara Crotti, Kike De La Rubia, Flavia Dell’Anna, Giulia De Piaggi, Fabio Facchinetti, Arianna Favaro, Elisa Franceschi, Giulia Ghezzo, Rebecca Giusti, Sarah Khoury, Alessandra Manfredi, Sabrina Marangoni, Angela Marchetti, Irene Mazzo, Silvia Paggiarin, Giulia Parisi, Camilla Pintonato, Pier Luigi Sandano, Maral Sassouni, Chiara Tomasi.

Competition Ho sognato!:
Winner: Laura Berni - Finalists: Ana Aranda Balcazar, Pier Luigi Sandano, Federica Sgambaro, Alessandra Tombesi.

Scenography by Simone Rea.