Camouflage

Camouflage, 10 color prints, 18×12 cm, 2010

Groups of soldiers wearing camouflage uniforms have been wandering around in my own city center since the end of 2009.

They were called by the local administration, whose winning campaign exploited local fears of a “Chinese invasion”,  to play a role in the war for public security.

The economic tensions between the Italian residents and Chinese people, actually about a quarter of the town’s population, mostly involved in manufacturing textiles and cheap clothes, is grounded on the accusations that the migrants aren’t playing by the rules, and has turned in a war for urban security. But according to italian law, a soldier can’t have any public order function.

The camouflage uniforms worn by the soldiers in a historical medieval city center, the most of facades being painted in a light yellow, are actually a sign of visibility.

In a second hand shop I bought two suites, an Italian army jacket and a yellow-beige trench coat, and walked in the town center wandering around with one jacket and the other, alternatively mimicking the soldiers and the camouflaging act.