Dissuader: an allegory of a part of humanity
that gives up “looking beyond” in exchange for pre-packaged tranquility and a pass to scavenge and peck in fields full of others’ leftovers. Dissuader is an accusation against the defenders of races,
Of borders,
Of the strongman,
An accusation against those who support “everyone in their own home.” The nails of the Dissuader are a response to the thousands of kilometers of borders adorned with barbed wire.
To endless walls of tears and despair.
They are a denunciation of those who sell unlikely passages and promises.
Dissuader is equivalent to a great urban fetish, a construct of metal wire bristling with nails and spikes, the same ones we use to keep pigeons away from roofs and ledges.
A metaphor for a mocking and paradoxical deterrent
– For humans.
Paola Riccitelli

In the still silence of early morning, the only sound is the creaking of crumbling shutters opening. In an instant, with a flutter of wings, a flock of pigeons, until then nestled on the eaves of surrounding buildings, dives like a remote-controlled squadron into the main apartment of one of the villas overlooking the square. It’s breakfast time and the birds are getting ready. Shortly after, when they are full, they exit from the opposite balcony, drawing an arc in the opposite direction before finally dispersing. The pigeon occupies an undefined position in the varied history of humanity. Sometimes it appears in art, half-dead in the middle of a still life. From Noah’s Ark, no pigeon took flight in the biblical flood… the raven and the dove did, but pigeons never did… there must be a reason. The artist imagines the pigeon as a huge urban idol, constructed with wire studded with nails, the same wire used to keep pigeons away from roofs and eaves, provoking in people a comical and paradoxical disgust. A metaphor for a certain humanity dedicated to a petty, intrusive, defeatist, oppressive, and dull life.
A modest eater of crumbs and others’ leftovers, the pigeon represents the renunciation of greatness in exchange for pre-packaged tranquility. A life where every pain, every predator, every ambition has been minimized, thriving in an artificial absence of natural selection. A bird shaped like a bubble, but with a bubble level that aligns downward.

A special thanks to the Marroni family who offered me hospitality, expertise, and highly skilled and passionate collaborators. THE DISSUADER grew in Termoli, within the walls of their factory. A nest, for me.
Franco Perrotti

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