The signs that pain can leave are sometimes evident, while others remain as small ripples. Still other times they become light slopes, cuts, lines that divide the surface creating contiguous and at the same time separated planes. So it is in the poetics of the artists, who make clay, container and memory of gestures and experiences, welcome their profound sensitivity to the world. An ex voto is an object which brings with it profound anthropological, sociological and artistic concerns. Symbol of gratitude, it creates an ancestral link between matter and the divine, elevating suffering to something sacred. The deep sense of emotion and devotion is identified, in this work, in the form best known to us: the heart.

 

We know that an object is recognized as an ex voto only when it undergoes a transformation, a physical and intentional modification. So here the hearts become planes, lines, shadows that follow one another in shape and size, as if to say: to each his own. And the gesture is repeated, as in a rosary, in which each part is similar but different, each time it is the same but it is also a different one. It is a mantra that heals, that heals wounds, that makes every line that caresses a plane repeat itself, that everything always changes, that a gesture makes the difference.

 

The installation has a strong emotional impact: anyone can recognize themselves in the act of giving thanks and at the same time remembering suffering. Without wishing to dwell too much on the period that has just passed, which undoubtedly affected the lives of many even with serious losses, this work undoubtedly represents a great gesture of hope and comfort, the possibility of moving forward.

 

The stylized rays of light, direct projection of the shadows of the piece, tell us about this double value that human existence has: we know light because there is a shadow that reminds us that it exists. Making the shape of light spring from the projection of the shadow not only has a very high symbology, but perfectly aligns this oxymoron of life.

 

The black color of the clay, of the earth after raku firing, recalls the ancient, a profound gesture that has always been with man. The mirror is instead contemporary, neutral, where everyone can find a part of themselves.

 

The shape of the shadow of the material is light, luminous and opaque at the same time, as if to say that not everything can be reflected, but something must be retained.

 

Dr. Mara De Fanti