Nanga Re

Furing green fairs or at organic markets his small stall can be found looking among zero-mile citrus and artisanal bags; you can tell right away that he is a special person, just stopping to hear him explain to anyone who approaches to look at his beautiful seed necklaces, about why his name has over time changed from François to Nanga-re, about his bicycle travels among African villages, about his escape from Mali. On the one hand the desire to tell a story and on the other the need to trade make him a special kind of guy: “if you want to photograph,” he tells me in a sweet French lilt, “first you have to buy one of my many necklaces; they are made of seeds, barks and fruits of African plants collected in my slow travels to faraway places.

From his voice: I live, today, in a small country town on the slopes of Mount Etna with my family; a simple, old-fashioned life with no special comforts. From here I set off and walk in search of the essence of planet earth, following the rhythms of nature that dictate the times and ways of harvesting; in winter I collect seeds, in summer fruits and barks; then I search for small river stones, simple things that I use to make my necklaces.

I like to talk to young people about my peace experience, and I am often called to schools or cultural circles where I recount, through necklaces, my journey to Mali, a country I traveled through by makeshift means before having to flee precipitously because of the unrest that broke out as a result of the war.

When I was young, in France I studied in Versaille, at the school of green and I was making gardens but when I thought about the future I saw it as a thick forest to go through and two different possible paths to take; I chose to take the one less traveled; this decision made all the difference in my life: I left for India, as a lay missionary, then Africa and islands and the sea and finally Sicily where I put down roots.”

Steps of peace

Nanga’s necklaces are a slow, silent journey through the seasons. Bark to be gathered in the autumn mist, seeds and fruits to be honored in harvesting them in spring or summer above the earth scorched by the cathartic sun, always listening to the life of the great universal force. Nanga’s necklaces are an umbilical thread of tenderness with the primordial power of the mother. Nanga, peaceful traveler, conscious of his slow, poetic walk around himself to return to his mother’s womb and meet others in their habitat. Nanga crossed deserts, savannas, jungles, forests, and swamps alone or with locals; his necklaces are moments of deep peace to be worn as sacred ornaments.

“The essence of planet earth dreamed and made real by Nanga, servant of the mother.”

From an original text by Marcella Scrimali(verdinsiemeweb.com).

Nanga re’s Curriculum

François Patrice Ramaget, aka Nanga re was born in France in 1957 and has resided in Belpasso (CT) for many years. A graduate of Hercules de Versailles in landscape architecture, he trained as a street troubadour in Anatolia (Turkey) with a caravan of gypsy nomads. After three years of working in India in missions and Indian theater, he discovered his ‘Little Clown’. From 1990 to 1992 he attended three courses of Yves Lebreton’s Body Theater in Florence. From 1993 to 1994 he attended Paola Gruper’s school of theatrical animation (CT). In 1995 he took part in a clowning internship with Jango Edwards.

Since 1984 he has been teaching as a theatrical entertainer, yoga classes for children, clowning internships, theatrical expression and French language play workshops, and has also worked as a clown in the ward at the ‘Villa Sandra’ Home for the Handicapped in San Giovanni La Punta. (CT).

Nanga re
Tel. 348 6958856