Italian artist uses childhood as metaphor for world events

The largest solo exhibition of Valerio Berruti, an Italian artist renowned for his artworks depicting children, has opened in Milan. The exhibition uses the metaphor of childhood to suggest a more human approach to major current issues. Don’t be fooled by appearances. The art of Valerio Berruti isn’t really about children. At first glance, the ‘More Than Kids’ exhibition at the Palazzo Reale in Milan seems to place children at its center. Statues and paintings of children stare at each other, embrace, gaze at the sky, or kneel quietly. There’s even a carousel, a real one, the quintessential symbol of childhood. And yet, Italian artist Valerio Berruti insists: his works aren’t about children. “My children are human beings in general, in the broadest and most universal sense possible,” he explains. In Berruti’s work, childhood becomes a metaphor, a lens through which to explore complex, contemporary issues such as migration and climate change. It’s a space for reflection and questioning, both of ourselves and the world we inhabit. Curator Nicolas Ballario calls it: “A very serious game.” “But there’s a peculiarity to this game, which isn’t over. We must decide what color to give these children, what features, what ethnicity, if we want. Precisely to identify ourselves, we can be ourselves. It can be an unknown child from somewhere else in the world. It can even be our parents or grandparents when they were children. It’s a game to understand that childhood represents that moment in life when anything can still happen,” says Ballario. Through his art, Berruti invites us to rediscover our own childhood, not as nostalgia, but as a call to ask ourselves the most essential questions. “Each work has a theme, a macro theme, so I hope that when people leave here, they ask themselves more than just a simple question, but many questions,” he says. 'More Than Kids' is on view until November 2 at the Palazzo Reale in Milan. This article was provided by The Associated Press.