Projects
Silence (2009-2015) (photography)
Over the last years I have been looking for natural landscapes and spaces that suggest an idea of silence, with the intention of giving it a tangible form through my own photography.
This body of work was born back in 2009 with my first visit to Iceland and the fascination for the beauty and melancholy of the Icelandic landscapes. Later on I discovered places that have been dislodged from their original context, places that have been abandoned, or forgotten. Thus the core theme in this work is the silence, in nature as well as in spaces of desintegration and decay as an indicator of the inevitable and progressive of linear time.
Inspired by painters from the 19th century, I attempt to evoke to meditation by combining visual material in a way that resembles the arragement of words in a poem, seeking for a balance among them and blurring the boundaries between the naturally-occurring and the man-made, between painting and photography in a series of diptychs and triptychs.
I establish links between decaying interior spaces with pristine natural landscapes, creating metaphors about the fate of those interiors returning to their initial state, where nature regains its lost space. I try to find images that are complementary and that somehow relate, either by the type of light, texture, colour, the atmosphere that they transmit or the aura they have. There must be something that unifies them and they should give us the feeling that they belong to the same place; that they belong to each other.
Each work, part of a series, could function independently, however, when combined, the dialogue and balance between them manage to convey my own system of seeing and understanding. I try to create atmospheres that are located between fact and fiction, reality and imagination.
Unfinished Dreams (2015) (photography)
The series Unfinished Dreams originated in the summer of 2015 in Kea, one of the Greek islands of the Cyclades archipelago. Alone or in clusters, set in the barren landscape and built up until about 2009, these unfinished buildings are indicators of the discontinuity of history.
Unlike the buildings located in the immediate vicinity of the ancient city of Karthaia, they have no harmonious relationship with their natural environment. Instead, following the principle of modernity, there is a contrast between the softness of the topography with the strict geometry of the architecture. At most, aligned with a spectacular view, the unfinished elements of the building site look rather random. The construction process has left scars in the natural soil, which are successively covered by the sparse vegetation.
By exposing the "core structure", of which every visible part is at the same time an indispensable part of any finished construction, the skeletons provide an abstract image of architecture. By providing no evidence of room layouts or intended formal expression, they allow the viewer plenty of room for interpretation, which is in an inverse proportional relationship with the degree of completion.
Short Passages (2017) (photography)
The work Short passages, is based in the act of gathering and realigning images, which serves to generate new associations, new figurative and conceptual realities. The way I create visual essays, is developed around my own doubts and curiosities about the mysteries I encounter in the world, through my own personal experiences and interpretations. The foundation of my photographic series is based on stories, which are, whether a framed moment of intimacy or a interpretation of a given reality.
Now I am Gone, and I did Have a Name (2017) (mix media)
Man has spread across the world as a wandering being. In tens of thousands of years of human history, he/she has always moved, departing from Africa.
Wars, conquests and expulsions dating back to prehistoric times, have triggered flight migrations. Even the oldest historical and literary sources report of flight and expulsion, of the loss of the ancestral homeland felt as catastrophe.
In my work Now I am gone, and I did have a name, the names of 105 of the probably over 300 people who drowned off the coast of Lampedusa on the night of Thursday 03.10.2013 appear. Since the 1990s, more than 200,000 people from Africa and Asia have been fleeing civil war, hunger and misery in Lampedusa. It is estimated that ten to twenty thousand people lost their lives in the same period.
Despite all the statistics, it is easy to forget that for every number there is one person, with a name and a story, who has spent his family's savings to escape poverty, war and lack of opportunity and put his life at risk. As long as people in their home countries have no future or cannot be sure that they will survive the next day, they will continue to go where living conditions are better, or at least where there are opportunities for a better existence.
The work is designed in such a way that names inside a light box seem to float below the surface of the water. They represent the many other fugitives who may have had the same age, the same name and whose bodies are in the same place at the bottom of the sea. On the 2nd of December 2013, I took part in a temporary art action initiated together with other artists, which took place in front of the European Parliament in Brussels, and from which I obtained the names of the victims.
The Ephemeral (2018) (photography)
The concept of Ephemera come from the late 16th century: plural of ephemeron, from Greek, neuter of ephēmeros ‘lasting only a day’. As a singular noun the word originally denoted a plant said by ancient writers to last only one day, or an insect the Ephemera, is the fly which is born but to die, living a single hour, and hence was applied (late 18th century) to a person or thing of short-lived interest.
For the work The Ephemeral, I was inspired by a writing, originally published as “Lettre à Madame B.” but better known as “The Ephemera,” strikes a rare note in the canon of Franklin’s writings: a note of melancholy. In its brooding over the brevity of life and the vanity of human endeavor, creates a mood of the short-term of appearance and disappearance, the fragile and the transcendent and the fleeting existence of an instant.
“It was, he says, the Opinion of learned Philosophers of our Race, who lived and flourished long before my time, that this vast World, the Moulin Joli, could not itself subsist more than 18 Hours; and I think there was some Foundation for that Opinion, since by the apparent Motion of the great Luminary that gives Life to all Nature, and which in my time has evidently declined considerably towards the Ocean at the End of our Earth, it must then finish its Course, be extinguished in the Waters that surround us, and leave the World in Cold and Darkness, necessarily producing universal Death and Destruction“
How Much is Enough (2018) (installation, mix media)
-six old wood money boxes, (mostly used in shops to stash away cash payment)
(Shanxi province, China). 17 x 26 x 17,5 cm (6x)
-one self-made reproduction of the antique wooden box in metal (brass). 17 x 26 x 17,5 cm
Only one metal box, hanging among the others, represents in a metaphorical way the 1% of the population, to which half of the world's wealth belongs. This leads us to think about the actual world order.
The work deals with the uncertainty of human conditions connected to the acceleration of globalization, the legacies of colonial occupation throughout the world, and the control exercised by the private industry, which is causing global inequality. All those aspects lead to the question, why inequality is so difficult to overcome.
To find an answer, Adrian Bejan, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke University discovered the Constructal Law, in which physics can predict wealth inequality. Bejan's Constructal Law addresses the fundamental principle of physics that underlies the evolution of flow systems as they change in design over time to increase flow access. It reveals that flow patterns govern the structure of the entire universe—most clearly evident within rivers, neural networks, lightning bolts, electrical circuitry and trees. Every flow architecture on Earth follows the same order, which is a natural tendency to want to flow more easily. "The Constructal Law extends the power of physics over all of the phenomena of evolutionary design and organization, from geophysics to biology, technology, and social organization,"
“The annual wealth, gross domestic product (GDP), is essentially proportional to the useful energy or 'work and movement' generated by a group or territory, so we can think of wealth as movement. Also recognize movement (wealth) as inequality that is hierarchical." This finding is "pivotal for physics, because it shows that the economics concept of wealth has a physical basis, which is measurable as work, fuel consumed, or movement effected by fuel, food, and work" "This unites economics and physics. The equivalence between wealth and movement is evolutionary because wealth and fuel use are increasing over time."
Even if Bejan's Physical Law describes the phenomenon of global inequality in a comprehensible way, human actions can change this law significantly. From a humanist point of view there is nothing natural about extreme inequality, it is man-made, and it has to do with power. From this point on, the work could also refer to Bertolt Brecht's play Die Dreigroschenoper, in which social conditions ultimately determine people's actions.
The installation How Much is Enough attempts to illustrate also the inequality between countries, which has been increasing by orders of magnitude over the past two hundred years, and shows no signs of slowdown. As long as a few rich countries have the power to set the rules to their own advantage, inequality will continue to increase.
Growth has been the main object of development for the past 70 years, despite the fact that it can’t work for all. Growth is not an option any more, we have already grown too much. We are blowing past planetary boundaries at a high speed. And the truth is that the global crisis is almost entirely a result of overconsumption in rich countries.
Instead of pushing poorer countries to “catch up“ with rich ones, we should be thinking of ways to get rich countries to “catch down“ to more appropriate levels of development. In order to achieve that, we have to reach a higher level of understanding and consciousness about why we are on this planet and what we want to do with it.
Oculus (2018-2019) Beliefs and Religions: Exploring Similarities / Dissimilarities. A Visual Essay. (photography)
No matter what cultural context we grew up in, we are shaped by it.The way we think, distinguish, and interact with others is influenced by attributes that are much older than we are, that we have not developed ourselves, and that we unconsciously adopt. Identity is formed through adaptation, but above all through demarcation and affirmation in front of the "other". No less important are the religious structures, the patterns, the regulations that shape our society and, therefore, also the tools with which we think.But also social norms, closely linked to religious ones, as well as the context of our education and socialization, are often internalized and automated components of our judgment.
Based on a wide variety of beliefs, represented by images, which are in dialogue with each other, this project, which I began a year ago, explores questions and practices about the human need to search for meaning. These images were taken in different parts of the world, with the purpose of visualizing and recognizing the differences and similarities between them, in order to have the capacity to familiarize with them and thus have more acceptance of other ways of believing.
Perceived intergroup similarity/dissimilarity is a crucial factor determining attitudes towards other groups, and correlate also with conflict.Which beliefs matter when we’re talking about these correlations? Do we mean a belief paradigm, like those consistent with many religions? Or do we mean beliefs related to a group’s (or individual’s) relative welfare, such as humiliation? Or do we mean beliefs which relate to how individuals and societies view those outside of their particular in-group, such as nationalism or racism?
The study of individual beliefs and belief systems may have the potential to provide valuable insights into the drivers of many conflicts. These conflicts have a severe impact on the stability of many regions of the world. All faiths have their accepted dogma, or articles of belief, that followers must accept without question. This can lead to inflexibility and intolerance in the face of other positions. At the same time, scripture and dogma are often vague and open to interpretation. What specific elements of beliefs led to an escalation of antagonism and intergroup tension and then to actual conflict? Are certain material conditions necessary in order for this escalation to occur? What roles do group leadership, governance, and institutions play? Too often we turn to explanations of conflict driven by our perceptions of belief systems rather than the objective realities of individuals and societies in conflict. The argue that the actions of individuals who collectively constitute societies in conflict are the result of innumerable motivations, many of which are subconscious in nature. As such the moral or ideational reasons individuals give to justify their actions are largely a means of providing afterwards meaning to actions which were in reality the result of motivations having very little to do with individual or societal beliefs. How should research contend with these opposing views?
At a time when the fate of the world is frightfully unknown, some defend uncertainty as a form of faith and hope. One of my main objectives is to make people reflect about the following questions: how can we succeed in refraining from the assertion of the one, the resulting distinction and the antagonism, and in entering into conversation?How can we search for exclusionary structures in one's own life and to name cultural attributions and symbols that are tools of mutual oppression?
Interfaith dialogue would be beneficial at all levels of beliefs hierarchies and across all segments of religious communities. Where silence and misunderstanding are all too common, fighting ignorance about other beliefs may facilitate understanding and respect for other faiths and ways of thinking.Communicating in a spirit of humility and engaging in self-criticism would also be helpful.
Raíces. (2019) – Installation (Variable dimensions)
The word Raíz (root) comes from the Latin "radix" which means "origin and beginning". The installation Raíces is part of the project The Path of Least Resistance, which is about visual perception and a free reading of natural phenomena.
The proposal aims to establish a bridge between certain expressions of contemporary art and current scientific issues, specifically The Constructal Law, which is a natural law developed by scientist Adrian Bejan, which inspired this project.
This installation is formed by two parts: the first one, an image of a tree in the mist, projected by a beamer on a white wall. I took the picture during the 58th Venice Art Biennale in 2019. The tree is located at the main entrance of the Central Pavilion in Gardini (The Biennial's Gardens). The mist was a facade installation by the artist Lara Favaretto, entitled Thinking Head. One could say that my work is an installation within another installation. The second part of the work consists of the roots of the tree, which extend across the floor of the exhibition space, as a three-dimensional object. The roots are made of used electrical cables, acquired at different flea markets.
The concept can be considered as a metaphor about our behaviour in relation to nature, which is characterised by exploitation to our advantage. The fact that we cannot talk to a tree does not mean that it does not have its own being or language.
For too long we have demanded growth only for us humans, while forcing the organic and inorganic world to grow with us and the increasing rhythm of our consumption. A peaceful coexistence with nature is inconceivable as long as we do not let it grow. To let it grow without taking advantage of it means to perceive and recognize the natural world.
The Path of Least Resistance (2017-2021) (photography, drawing, installation, video) (Mimesis)
The starting point is the question to what extent art can contribute to the perception of nature in its complexity in order to create a sensitivity and empathy for other forms of life and an awareness of a harmonious balance between human existence and the natural world.
The project brings together results from the fields of science and art and attempts to trace and visualize ways in which natural systems develop. The project was inspired by the work of Prof. Adrian Bejan. Prof. Bejan is the author of The Constructal Law. The basic statement of the theory states: " For a finite-size system to persist in time (to live), it must evolve in such a way that it provides easier access to the imposed (global) currents that flow through it". It is important that the system also has the freedom to develop. This sounds seemingly trivial, but behind it lies an ingenious principle according to which flow patterns determine the structure of the entire universe. This principle is most clearly visible in rivers, neuronal networks, lightning, lung design, plant growth patterns and even in social dynamics. Every flow architecture on earth follows the natural tendency to want to flow more easily. The evolution of its movement always pursues the goal of achieving balance and minimizing resistance.
By exploring individual images extracted from a seemingly inexhaustible source of "designs in nature", experimental arrangements are created by means of interpretation, abstraction, alienation and composition, which shed light on natural phenomena and their complex interrelationships. These phenomena can be found at both micro and macro levels in a wide range of scientific disciplines, such as biology, geology, physics and medicine. The translation of natural phenomena by artistic means makes it possible by enlarging or focusing on individual aspects, to arouse the viewer's interest in the complexity of natural systems. An associative approach creates the possibility to discover the origins of the architecture of natural structures and the analogies between them, which leads us to the conclusion: there is a common dynamic behind the evolution, or rather the design of the existing.