Colonization and National Consensus -Emily Vandenoever

Antonio Federico Leonardi, Agro pontino redinto (1940)
FIU Wolfsonian Collection

Colonization was a key component in the formation of Italian State policy. Under the Fascist regime Italy expanded its territories in East Africa from land previously acquired in Somalia and Eritea in 1890. Italy later invaded Ethiopia in 1936 and Benito Mussolini declared the establishment of an empire.

Metroploe/Colony: Africa and Italy examines the use of a foreign nation in shaping social and cultural consensus in modern Italy. Agriculture and industry are recurring themes which aim to reinforce the idea of the parallel development of the colony and metroploe. During this time, the reclamation of land for farming and the rebuilding of cities were polices adapted by the Fascist regime. The study of these themes allow for a critical exploration of visual and material culture in building a domestic consensus. 

The exhibition is drawn from the Wolfsonian Collection and is displayed at Florida International University's Frost Art Museum as a part of a collaboration between the institutions to provide space for teaching within the school.

The curator of the show, Professor David Rifkind, Department of Architecture, FIU is a specialist in Italian architecture during the Fascist era (1922-1943) Metroploe/Colony: Africa and Italy draws on his expertise in the way in which the built environment can effect social change. He also puts forward a critic on the modern notion of what it is to be Italian.

The show opens with a brief synopsis of the exhibition onlooking a large oil on canvas in turn establishing it as the primary work. This painting depicts a farmyard with laborers carrying sacks of grain on the backs. The painting reinforces the theme of agriculture as means to producing nation consensus. Mussolini declared the “Battle for Grain” in 1925. In turn, agriculture was celebrated as self sufficiency. What is odd about this painting is that it represents only Italian workers. Seldomly in the exhibition is the image of the native African’s depicted.  The exhibition claims to document the parallel development of the colony and metropole but there is an uneven treatment of scheme.

This may simply be a result of the material available from the Wolsonian museum or a representation of the Fascist strong hold on media. It would have been interesting to represent the cross-pollination that occurred during colonization despite the odds.

One photograph, published in the volume Italia Imperial linked the economic activity in both the colony and main land. The photograph represent the locale staple, bananas with young Italian children giving the Fascist salute. This food isn’t treated as a cultural connection between the colony and mainland but instead the food, is purely a resource. It could be argued that the colonies were treated in the same manner. In a photomontage poster used by the exhibition...this theme again visible. The poster was used in school for a radio series with fascist efforts to transform the colonized territory but more importantly the colonized people. The montage technique combines images of Italian leaders with photographs documenting coffee and banana plantations, mining and processing natural resources, the building of roads and bridges and images the native population at work. This technique boosted the power of the regime and the great privilege of technology granted to the native people. Again the culture of the colonies is a void with in the exhibition.

Oreste Gasperini, Ente Radio Rurale (1938)
FIU Wolfsonian Collection