Cherimus
With Emiliana and Matteo at the Cherimus residency space
Founded in 2007 by three friends: Marco Colombaioni, Matteo Rubbi and Emiliana Sabiu, Cherimus (Sardinian: ‘we want/we desire‘) is based in the small town of Perdaxius (600 inhabitants), dedicated to the development of the social and cultural heritage – past and present – of the Sulcis Iglesiente (14000) area in south-west Sardinia.
I have known Emiliana since we met in a cafe in Tunis some time around 2013. We stayed in touch since, mainly over some unsuccesful EU funding projects. Now was my chance to visit and what a great time I had!
The communities of Sulcis balance their lives and economies between their rural heritage coming from Nuragic, pastoral, and mining times with the impacts of global influences of today. Both town and area have experienced a large scale of land-flight, which is starkly visible when walking the streets of Perdaxius. Formerly based on agriculture (fruit, nuts, wheat, wine, oil) and the mining industry, today you find only some low-labour-demanding/high-environmentally-impacting companies in the area, to include RWM Italia a German missiles factory (note: in Germany military production is prohibited), a heavy metal aluminium factory (recently closed) and an Italian UN military base.
Perdaxius features 3 churches, a supermarket, pharmacy, post office, vegetable shop, bar, two restaurants and a bakery. The elementary school lives on with 36 children; secondary schooling is offered in nearby Carbonia built by Mussolini in the 1930ies as a mining town. Butcher, hairdressers, bank and one of the churches are closed and when walking through Perdaxius’ streets, the over-riding image is that many shutters are down. They only open in August, Carlo tells me, when people that moved to the cities in mainland Italy or abroad come back for their summer vacation.
All these assets and absents give Cherimus their nutrition and playground for living and working with this community in collaboration with artists from all over. With the butcher gone and the baker’s shelves almost empty, it fills the gap of the candle-stick maker, with their various interventions. Perdaxius lives up during the festivals of San Giacomo and San Anna, when the sharing of food and processions fill the place with music, processions, joy and colour. Cherimus’ Caro Giacomo/Dear James added to in the past through the making of a new San Giaccommo statue (when the old one collapsed during the procession), carved by a Rwandese partner artist or the making of sculptured bread with the local bakery.
During my stay I had the great privilege to talk to and with members of the local art community about my work with Deveron Projects/the town is the venue in Huntly and beyond, who came together to discuss their annual Caro Giacomo festival event and “Dai Nuraghi alle Stelle” (From Nuraghi to the Stars), a project which joins their built heritage with the dark sky asset of the area. Hosted lavishly in the spacious and sunny residency accommodation with pizza, wine and other local delicacies in abundance provided fertile ground for future planning and potential collaborations, with a view of helping people here to have a new and different look at itself, while not shying away from the tensions present. Being open to discussion with the people they meet along the way and the artists they invite, there is a hope for local communities to create new communal opportunities beyond the short-lived seasonal tourist-oriented experiences on the nearby coasts.
Thank you Emiliana, Matteo and their family for the wonderful hosting. Hopefully I can come back for longer before long.
