L’orto degli spaventapasseri (The Garden of Scarecrows)Biaglio Lapolla (b. 1934)

After retiring in 1981 from his thirty-year job working in a grain-processing factory, Nonno [Grandfather] Biagio began populating his small vegetable garden, located adjacent to the factory in which he had worked, with dozens of scarecrows. At first, his intent in creating these figures was simply to scare the birds away from his garden, but the more figures he added, the more interested he became in creating more of them, and now this has become his main occupation in his retirement. Using materials he finds in the dumps – particularly clothes and children’s toys – he has created a colorful variety of differently-sized and differently-adorned characters. He continuously works to restore them, changing their forms and positions, and is pleased when they elicit a smile from passersby.

 ~Gabriele Mina

www.costruttoridibabele.net

2 Via Don Giovanni Minzoni
Matera, Basilicata, 75100 it
Latitude/Longitude: 40.6665171 / 16.6039855

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