Il Tempo: Henner indaga la fotografia nell'era dell'intelligenza artificiale

Modena, 12 mar. (askanews) - La moglie di Lot trasformata in sale, Giona nella balena, la Creazione del mondo: fotografie scattate con una Polaroid molto prima che la Polaroid esistesse. E' il paradosso che abita "Seeing is Believing - Vedere per Credere", prima personale italiana di Mishka Henner a Fondazione Ago di Modena. Un artista che usa l'intelligenza artificiale per rimettere in discussione tutto quello che crediamo di sapere sull'immagine fotografica.
"Nel 2026 - spiega la curatrice Chiara Dall'Olio - ricorrono i duecento anni dall'invenzione della fotografia e Modena, città della fotografia e riconosciuta dall'UNESCO per le media arts, voleva rendere omaggio a questa arte. Abbiamo quindi unito le due cose, chiedendo a un artista che lavora con i nuovi strumenti di creazione dell'immagine - dall'intelligenza artificiale in poi - di rispondere a una domanda: cos'è oggi la fotografia?".
Quattro sezioni: dalla parola - con 1.400 definizioni di "cos'è la fotografia" raccolte sul web italiano - agli episodi biblici resi Polaroid, fino ai ritratti di San Francesco, San Pietro, Santa Brigida: icone generate dall'IA che risultano più realistiche dei dipinti medievali da cui nascono. Credibili. Ma non reali.
"Mi affascina l'idea che con l'intelligenza artificiale la fotografia si sia finalmente liberata dalla macchina fotografica - racconta Mishka Henner -: in teoria è oggi possibile tornare indietro nel tempo e fotografare eventi accaduti molto prima che le fotocamere esistessero".
Il percorso si chiude con un'unica opera: uno schermo che scorre lentamente attraverso tutti i sedici milioni di colori che la luce digitale può generare. Come una vetrata istoriata. Ma contemporanea. "Il modo in cui usiamo schermi e dispositivi oggi - spiega l'artista - li portiamo con noi quasi come reliquiari. Sono oggetti sacri".
"Noi - conclude Dall'Olio - chiediamo al visitatore di fare come tabula rasa e innanzitutto chiedersi, quasi prima di entrare, che cos'è per me la fotografia oggi".

Now, photography is being investigated in the age of artificial intelligence.

Modena, March 12 (askanews) - The wife of Lot transformed into salt, Jonah in the whale, The Creation of the world: photographs taken with a Polaroid long before the Polaroid existed. It’s the paradox that inhabits “Seeing is Believing - Vedere per Credere”, the first Italian personal exhibition by Mishka Henner at the Fondazione Ago di Modena. An artist who uses artificial intelligence to challenge everything we think we know about the photographic image.

“In 2026 – explains curator Chiara Dall’Olio – the two hundredth anniversary of the invention of photography will be commemorated, and Modena, a city of photography and recognized by UNESCO for media arts, wanted to pay homage to this art. We therefore combined the two things, asking an artist who works with the new tools of image creation – from artificial intelligence onwards – to answer a question: what is photography today?”

Four sections: from the word – with 1,400 definitions of “what is photography” collected on the Italian web – to biblical episodes rendered in Polaroid, to the portraits of Saint Francis, Saint Peter, and Saint Brigid: icons generated by AI that are more realistic than medieval paintings from which they originate. Credible. But not real.

“I am fascinated by the idea that with artificial intelligence, photography has finally been freed from the camera – recounts Mishka Henner – in theory, it’s now possible to go back in time and photograph events that took place long before cameras existed.”

The journey ends with a single work: a screen that slowly scrolls through all sixteen million colors that digital light can generate. Like a stained-glass window. But contemporary. “The way we use screens and devices today – explains the artist – we carry them with us almost like reliquaries. They are sacred objects.”

“We – concludes Dall’Olio – ask the visitor to do as a blank slate and, above all, to ask themselves, almost before entering, what is photography for me today?”

#Modena #Polaroid #Credere #first #Italian #MishkaHenner #ChiaraDall’Olio #UNESCO #SaintFrancis #SaintPeter #SaintBrigid

https://www.iltempo.it/tv-news/2026/03/12/video/henner-indaga-la-fotografia-nell-era-dell-intelligenza-artificiale-46782176/

[14:24] Candlelit procession to conclude St Brigid's celebrations

Events are continuing in Co Louth this long weekend to commemorate the birth and legacy of Saint Brigid.

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2025/0202/1494332-brigids-day-weekend/

#CoLouth #thislongweekend #SaintBrigid

“Maybe a story of someone who outsmarted a tyrant with a magically expanding cape is just what we need. Maybe we need a sense of hope & faith that our capes can expand to cover all of those who are suffering in these literally mercy-less, cruel times. Maybe if we held on to that hope that our capes would expand, our hearts would, too, along with our minds’ capacity to organize & work for change.”

#SaintBrigid #FeastDay #EpiscopalChurch #Episcopal #Faith #Hope #Love

https://www.growchristians.org/2025/02/01/nurturing-bright-flames-of-love-with-saint-brigid/

Saint of the day: 10 facts about St Brigid of Ireland.
She is portrayed in art with a cow lying at her feet, because she used to be a cowgirl; or holding a cross and casting out the devil.

https://topicaltens.blogspot.com/2017/02/1st-february-st-brigid-of-ireland.html

#Saints #Religion #SaintBrigid

BRIGHID AT IMBOLG by Veronica Smith

The main Festival of Goddess Brighid / Saint Brighid in the Celtic Solar Calendar is IMBOLG.  It takes place at the mid-point between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox and is regarded (in Ireland at least!) as the beginning of Spring. 

In the Gregorian calendar, Imbolg takes place on the fixed date of 1st February.  It is known as “Saint Brighid’s Day” and has recently become a Bank Holiday in Ireland.  Saint Brighid and Saint Patrick are the two patron saints of Ireland, although only Saint Brighid is native Irish, Saint Patrick being a Romano-British missionary from Wales.

On 2nd February is the Christian festival of CANDLEMAS, when the church candles are blessed.  Is it coincidence that this should happen on the day following that of Saint Brighid, who was renowned for tending a perpetual Flame of Hope?!

That said, the Gregorian calendar is not in sync with our planet’s solar calendar.  In 2025, true astronomical Imbolg (the mid-point between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox) does not take place until 3rd February. 

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Brighid’s festival has several different spellings.  It can be “Imbolc” or “Imbolg” or even “Oimelc”.  The variations are due to language and cultural differences. 

“Bol” means “Belly” in Welsh; whereas “Bolg” means “Belly” in Irish Gaelic.  “Oimelc” means “Ewe’s Milk”.  All three versions refer to the lambing season.  The pregnant ewe (in the belly) gives birth to the spring lambs and provides milk for their young. 

Brighid, as both Celtic Goddess and Christian Saint, is the protectress of Sheep and Cattle, which were the main sources of wealth in the Celtic world. 

I recently came across another interpretation of the “in the belly” meaning.  It is a delightful one!  It suggests that  Imbolc means “in the belly of the Mother Goddess” because the seeds of Spring are beginning to stir in the womb of Mother Earth! 

IMBOLG ASSOCIATIONS WITH BRIGHID

Brighid is particularly associated with white-coloured animals, such as white sheep and white cows with red ears.  Milk and its dairy products, such as butter, are part of the Brighidine stories, as well as honey. 

The ancient Celtic diet did not include potatoes but was reliant on grain, such as oats.  So, if you want to create an Imbolg menu, think of dairy produce and oats, using honey as the sweetener!  I always make a festival loaf and any bread recipes (or cookies!) that include oats, are very appropriate.

The chief flower of Imbolg is SNOWDROP.  This tiny white flower is a sign of Brighid’s resilience.  It appears at a time when few other plants can survive the chill temperatures of a lingering winter. 

LEGENDS OF IMBOLG AND BRIGHID

There are many different stories surrounding Brighid as Bringer of Spring.  Like the festival name, these stories vary according to regional customs. 

One basic theme is that Winter, being represented by the Hag or Cailleach (the Crone aspect of the Triple Goddess) takes captive Brighid or Bride, who is the Spring Maiden. 

It is very similar to the ancient Greek story of Persephone, daughter of the Corn Goddess Demeter, being abducted by Hades, Lord of the Underworld.  Demeter is so distressed by the disappearance of her daughter that she neglects her duties as fertility goddess and the land becomes barren.  The other deities must intervene,  negotiating a compromise between Demeter and Hades.  For nine months of the year, Persephone can return to her mother, bringing fertility back to the land, but for the last three months, she must return to her husband in the Underworld, when the land becomes barren. 

In the Celtic version, it is the Crone of Winter, who abducts the Spring Maiden but the Maiden manages to escape, or is rescued, in time to bring back the Sun and Spring to the land.  In another variation, it is Brighid Herself, who changes from Crone to Spring Maiden to Earth Mother and then back to Crone, according to the seasons. 

Regardless of which version is followed, it is customary to make great ceremony of “inviting” Brighid into the home at Imbolg.  “Brighid has Come!  Brighid is welcome!  Failte!” 

CUSTOMS HONOURING BRIGHID AT IMBOLG

There are so many regional customs about honouring Brighid at Imbolg that it would fill a book – or probably several books!  I will only look at a few of them here. 

CLEANING THE HOUSE AND HEARTH:

As a Goddess of Fire and Water, Brighid needs to be welcomed into a clean home!

Water cleanses, particularly around doorways and thresholds.  Cleaning windows allows in more of that welcome Spring sunshine, to brighten up the house or apartment!  Alternatively, you could perform a ceremony to bless a local water-source, even if it is only your own bathroom! 

The fire-place (if you have one) should be swept clean.  In Ireland, where turf (peat-brickettes) is used on the fire, it is possible to “smoor” the embers; that is to bank down the fire over-night, when it can be revived the next morning.  Since coming to France, where wood is used instead of turf, I have not found that possible,  If you do not have a fire at all, then cleaning around your cooker is just as symbolic.   

MAKING THE SAINT BRIGHID’S CROSS

It is customary, on Imbolg Eve, for the family to gather and make new Saint Brighid’s Crosses, to replace last year’s ones.  Traditionally, these distinctive crosses were made from rushes or even straw from last year’s harvest, which is all well and good if you live in a rural place and have access to these materials. 

Myself, I use stiff paper to make my St Brighid’s Crosses.  The paper ones have the advantage that you can write prayers and intentions on them. 

If you don’t have the time (or skill) to make rush or paper crosses, then there are plenty of ready-made permanent versions, made from pottery or metal and also jewellery to wear.  Simply cleaning your “hard-copy” version is an act of reverence in itself!

Apart from jewellery, it is customary to hang your St Brighid’s Cross at the front door, to protect the home. 

BHRAT

Another popular tradition is to hang outside a piece of cloth on Imbolg Eve, the idea being that Brighid will bless the cloth as She passes by your home.  Once the cloth is blessed, then it can be used for healing headaches and injuries, by wrapping the cloth around the afflicted area. 

Some use a fresh piece of cloth each year.  Others use the same piece of cloth every year.  Some hang out shawls, to capture Brighid’s essence, so that the owner can wrap themselves (or the person they are healing) in Brighid’s “embrace”. 

The long and the short of it is that the cloth or shawl becomes a sacred object, like a prayer shawl, imbued with Brighid’s healing energy. 

DOLLS AND OTHER SYMBOLS

Some folk like to make Bride Dolls (effigies of Brighid), which they place in a toy bed at Imbolg, to signify Brighid’s custom of hospitality.  “Brighid is welcome to our house!”  

Another custom, which seems particularly popular among Irish emigrants to America, is the weaving of wreaths, made from seasonal foliage.  At each of the eight Celtic Solar Festivals, the wreath is changed. 

There are lots more customs associated with Brighid at Imbolg but it is not my intention to cover them all in this article.

CONCLUSION

Whatever way you chose to celebrate the festival, Brighid will be happy that you have taken time off from your busy schedules to remember Her.  Simply lighting a candle and saying a prayer to Her will be enough to connect with Blessed Brighid.  Beannachtai!

Author: Veronica Smith         first published on 31st January 2025

RECOMMENDED READING:

CELTIC DEVOTIONAL: Daily prayers and blessings; by Caitlin Matthews.  Published by Gill & Macmillan, Ireland, in 2004.  ISBN: 0-7171-3746-5

TENDING BRIGID’S FLAME; by Lunaea Weatherstone, published by Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd, USA in 2022.  ISBN: 978-0-7387-4089-8

BRIGID: History, Mystery and Magick of the Celtic Goddess; by Courtney Weber; published by Weiser Books USA in 2015. 
ISBN: 978-1-57863-567-2

VOICES FROM THE GROVE: Beltane 2021-2022: The Call of Brighid, Bright Inspiration; Volume Two of the Ogham Grove Year Wheel Journal & Diary, dedicated to Brighid of the Flame and the Rowan Tree.  Edited by Yuri Leitch; printed by Amazon.
ISBN: 9798732277517.

#CelticSolarFestivals #goddessBrighid #imbolc #Imbolg #Imelc #OghamGrove #SaintBrigid #StBrigidCross #wheelOfTheYear

How to make your own Saint Brigid from Irish Wish costume! #dawnbradfield #fairy #irish #irishwish #netflix #saintbrigid #cosplay #costume

https://carboncostume.com/saint-brigid-from-irish-wish/