"Homeless"

”Homeless” is the name given to the white marble sculpture placed in the center of Piazza Plebiscito in Naples representing a child curled up with a chained wrist. It is the symbol of the oppressive economic crisis triggered by Covid-19 pandemic. “I cannot express myself more because there is nothing to add. Each person is free to see what they want. Go and ask the meaning of it to all those people who have been left stuck in their conditions”, these are the words of the artist, Jacopo Cardillo. At the beginning of 2020 most people were scared of the danger of a “third world war” owing to the political tensions going on between USA and China. Now we have come to the end of this unforgettable year and our question is “Are we sure that we actually avoided the danger of another war? Are we sure we are not already experiencing a war?” Covid-19 overwhelmingly entered our life and changed them forever. It deprived us of the most important value of the humankind: our freedom. We lost our freedom to move, sanctioned by all national constitutions and international regulations as a fundamental right of every citizen; our freedom to establish social relationships, in some cases our freedom to work; we can say we lost our freedom to live as human beings. Covid-19 pandemic will be part of the history of this generation, and like all historical events it also let us learn something really important: now more than ever we understand the importance of simple things, we understand the importance of being a nation of aware citizens able to renounce to our freedoms for the common good, but also the importance of being all as one with the entire world, just because we are living the same drama. Was it really necessary to see our grandparents die in front of us to understand the importance of acting like humans?