MILAN - It's about togetherness.

Italian poet Paola Pennecchi and Canadian photographer Alison Harris have joined forces to create an evocative, coffee table-sized book entitled Traslochi, which translates roughly to Moving On, with a gallery presentation in Milan on Friday, March 30. The theme lends itself to endings--to the physical and emotional business of packing up and going away-- but also to occasionally bizarre silences and vacant spaces of both the exterior physical and inner worlds. Appropriate to the theme, the exhibit then moves on to Berlin, Paris, Venice and New York.

Photographer Alison Harris [2] (full disclosure: not a relative), who has lived in Rome and near Genoa, is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College in the U.S. and and currently lives in Paris. Her photographs have been published by Rizzoli and HarperCollins, among others, and have been on view in one-woman and collective exhibitions in Genoa, New York, Houston, and in the Galerie Italienne in Paris. Her works have also been acquired by the Musee Carnavalet and the Bibliotheque Historique in Paris and by the National Austrian Library. 

Born and still based in Milan, poet Paola Pennecchi works as an editor, coordinator and technical consultant for Eurotrendy, Mondadori, Rizzoli, Conde Nast, Aagetp, Technice Nuove and other specialized Milanese companies in the field of marketing and publicity. Her poems appeared for the first time in the quarterly Cultura Oggi in 1995.  Part of that moving on is language, for all Pennecchi's poems are presented in both Italian and in English. And here's an excerpt from her lyric of stillness Sii grata (Be grateful).

Thank you, #1, Grazie 1.

Your slow Quel tuo lento

rocking progress has been avanzare e' stato come

a comforting cradle un balsamo di culla

in the hours of darkness nelle ore del buio.

At every stop Ad ogni fermata

a story, a traveler una storia, un viandante

to tie da allacciare

to my destiny. al mio destino.

And salvation. E alla salvezza.

Galleria Spaziotemporaneo [3], Via Solferino 56, 20121 Milan, through April 14, 2012, Tues through Sat 4 pm to 7:30 pm.