STORIES OF TRENTINO PEOPLE IN THE WORLD
We asked some descendants of Trentino emigrants to tell their stories in the first person, emphasising how their origin has directed and influenced them in life. This would not have been possible without the active and friendly cooperation of the Trentini nel Mondo Association, founded in 1957 with the aim of social solidarity and as a tool of aggregation and assistance for Trentino migrants and their descendants. The character we present in this issue is Debora Regina Daros, born in Brazil and originally from the Trentino region.
I am Debora Regina Daros, I was born in Blumenau, but I live in Gaspar, Santa Catarina, Brazil. I am 51 years old, a visual artist and art teacher in the municipal school network of Gaspar. I am also the mother of Enzo, an 18-year-old, and a collaborator in promoting and preserving the Italian language and culture at the Gasparin Trentino Circle.
During my childhood, I had the good fortune to have two grandparents, one Italian and one German, with little academic education but with a large cultural repertoire, who made me appreciate the little things in life, such as watching the stars, nature, listening to and singing folk songs, having faith, contemplating architecture, sculpture, painting, graphics, photography, and above all listening to the stories of our ancestors. Treasures that have undoubtedly influenced my repertoire and my artistic and cultural poetry.
As a child, I was always interested in manual activities. I am the daughter of a seamstress and in my mother's sewing workshop I spent hours playing and inventing things with scraps. I used to draw with my grandfather Domingos, who was a bricklayer, but had a remarkable sense of aesthetics. Later, already in middle school, I rediscovered my love for drawing, at first just for fun. Then I participated in a workshop at my school, and it was then that I decided to enrol in university to study art. I attended the visual arts course at the Federal University of Paraná in Curitiba, where I was fortunate enough to be taught by an excellent faculty. During that time, I decided to explore and discover my Italian roots. Through interviews with uncles, as my grandparents were already deceased, I discovered the Trentino origins of my great-grandparents: Vallarsa (Riccardo Gioacchino Piazza), Besenello (Domenico Giacobbe Gezzele), Borgo Valsugana (Elisa Marchi).
The first photo I saw of Trentino was in the magazine 'Trentini nel Mondo', which showed Vallarsa, the land of my great-grandfather Piazza. It was shown to me by my aunt. And it was passion at first sight. I decided to make my dream come true: I would speak Italian, as unfortunately my parents had not taught us dialect, and I would visit Italy.
In 2004, I set foot on Italian soil for the first time. I was overwhelmed with emotion. Being in Italy, a country my parents loved deeply but never had the chance to visit, was a moment of gratitude to all my ancestors for preserving this love across generations. In 2005, I had the opportunity to participate in the Training Stay of the Autonomous Province of Trento, which became one of the most significant milestones in my career. It reinforced the poetic themes in my artistic style, focused on the possibility of uniting art with my personal memories.
Since 2014, I have decided to expand my paintings. From small media I switched to murals, a way to democratise art and share it with a wider audience. I did my first mural on the Paulo Wehmuth Viaduct, entitled Mirror of Memory (2014), in reference to German architecture. In this case I used the technique of photography printed on glass mosaic. In 2015, with the support of the Trentini nel Mondo 'Memories' initiative and the Gasparin Trentino Circle, I painted a mural in tribute to 140 years of Trentino and Italian immigration to Brazil. The work covers an area of 15 square metres, using as its subject an immigrant couple with two daughters, as well as various figures symbolising immigration and the love of these immigrants for the new world. The mural was done with acrylic paint, spray and stencil techniques applied to the wall. In 2022, again with the support of Trentini nel Mondo and the Gasparin Trentino Circle, I created the 200 square metre mural Le Nonne (the Grandmothers), a tribute to the significance of women during the great wave of immigration and within the communities they helped establish, ensuring the continuity of Italian traditions. I used photographs of Trentino women from different communities engaged in various activities as a reference. Both murals were created near the Santo Antônio Chapel, which is part of the 'Villa d'Italia' tourist route.
In 2021 I created a giant egg (2.50 metres high and 1.80 metres in diameter) for the 13th Osterfest (Easter Festival) in Pomerode, on the theme 'Beauties of Italy for Eier Parade'. It was loaned to the Consulate General of Italy in Curitiba for exhibitions in various places and is now at Villa d'Italia.
I am very happy that all these artistic works related to the great Italian immigration have already been visited by thousands of people and students from the school network of Gaspar and the region, promoting the dissemination of this theme that is so important for our cultural memory. I am preparing new works for the 150th anniversary of Italian immigration to Santa Catarina in 2025, aiming to raise awareness about this issue so that new generations recognise, respect, and value their origins.
Debora Regina Daros
Debora Regina Daros and her giant egg
Debora Regina Daros and 'Le nonne'
Debora Regina Daros and 'Le nonne' (detail)
The immigration mural (detail)
