I ggiri (Beet) print - 2022 edition

2022 limited edition prints from the 2016 Wealth of the Land exhibition.

Created from the streets of La Vucciria market in Palermo 2014-2016, these prints celebrate the fruit and vegetables of the streets. The markets, established by Arabs more than 1200 years ago sell seasonal, mostly regionally grown in Sicily.

Each of the images in the show were hand drawn digital images, based on a series of photographs taken from different angles and light sources. They each took from 40-60 hours to make.

The work in Wealth of the Land was exhibited in Palermo, Darwin, Melbourne and Sydney

Limited edition print of 19
30cm x 30cm / 45cm x 45cm
Digital print on Ilford paper
Unframed

A pdf of the Wealth of the Land catalogue will be emailed to you on purchase.

Beet
Hitting the markets in late winter, the deep dark greens of giri are the first sign of spring to come. Without looking properly, I thought it was spinach—i spinaci in Italian—until I was firmly told otherwise by Francesca Ribuffo, another Vucciria stall holder: “No! su’ ggiri!” Spinach, as it turned out, didn’t arrive in Sicily until after the war, so there is no dialect word in any case.

I ggiri
I ggiri si trovanu o mircatu a finuta du ‘nvernu, hannu i pampini scuri e sunnu u signali ca sta arrivannu a primavera. A prima vista mi parsinu spinaçi ma a putiara Francesca
m’arripighiò ricennumi: “noo! su’ ggiri!” I spinaçi avi picca ca si usanu nne nuatri, prima
ra guerra mancu si canuscevanu.

La bietola
Presente nei mercati alla fine dell’inverno, il colore verde scuro delle bietole, è il primo
segnale dell’arrivo della primavera. Guardando con poca attenzione, ho pensato che fossero spinaci, finché non mi è stato fermamente detto da Francesca Ributto, un’altra venditrice ambulante al mercato della Vucciria: “No! su’ ggiri”. Gli spinaci non sono arrivati in Sicilia prima della fine seconda guerra mondiale, perciò, non esiste alcuna parola in dialetto.