Photographic, musical and literary Installation – La Maison Suisse de la Poésie
An immersive experience to discover on September 20, from 14:00 to 19:00 continuously.
As part of the Images Vevey Biennale, the Maison Suisse de la Poésie welcomes I volti di Scampia: i giusti di Gomorra (The Faces of Scampia: the Righteous of Gomorrah), the photographic work of Neapolitan photographer and writer Davide Cerullo. Based on his photographs, Melissa Cascarino creates a several-hour installation combining wall projection, music and literature. She will also present her translation of Scampia, Cerullo’s short book.
Davide Cerullo was born in 1974 in the northern suburbs of Naples. The ninth of fourteen siblings, he moved with his family in 1980 to Scampia, in one of the Vele neighbourhoods. His childhood there was far from easy and peaceful: he experienced poverty and the serious difficulties of everyday life from an early age, as well as the separation of his parents. During these years, he also went through a painful and difficult experience as a shepherd for his father’s flock. Leaving school at the age of thirteen, he was recruited by the criminal underworld, which led him into the infernal workings of the Camorra.
His transformation was not immediate: after leaving prison, he returned to his former life. But remorse, emptiness and dissatisfaction gave him no respite. It was then that he began to glimpse the possibility of redemption, of a normal life. The path to healing was not easy, marked by setbacks and many failures. Today, however, he has regained his inner balance by devoting himself to writing and photography, as well as to the children of Scampia, for whom he founded a play centre, “L’Albero delle Storie”.
Melissa Cascarino was born in 1978 in the Paris suburbs, in Seine-Saint-Denis. Originally from Molise (a small region not far from Naples), a pianist, choreographer, performer and poet, she is based in Geneva. Melissa has collaborated with Davide Cerullo on several occasions. In particular, in November 2025, she invited him to join a four-storey transdisciplinary installation at the Maison Rousseau et Littérature (Geneva), commemorating the 50th anniversary of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s assassination, from 18:00 to 01:00, continuously.
She is currently translating Cerullo’s novel, L’orrore e la bellezza. In addition, she will present her translation of Davide’s short book, Scampia, during the installation for Images Vevey, at the Maison Suisse de la Poésie, where she presented various performances alongside Davide last May for La Notte della poesia italiana, in collaboration with the Fondazione Margherita per Cultura Italiana.
