PALAEONTOLOGY OF MEMORY
I see my work as a constant archeological dig, an excavation into the depths of my psyche.
The finds are fragments of fossils of memories and emotions, cues of relics that pre-date consciousness, suspended beings of parallel worlds entangled in layers of feelings.
These entities ground me and allow the exploration of trauma and impulse, mingling with long discarded cultural, religious beliefs and hidden sexual desires.
At the core of my work is an intuitive making process; the physical interaction with a variety of materials and the intervention on evocative ready made items, allows for the evolution of ideas.
Paper, knives, cotton threads, inks, scissors, tarmac, fur, clay, leather, needles, plaster, polystyrene are some of the tools that are linked to precious memories and they are equally important for the purpose of my search.
The repetitiveness of mark making on a piece of paper, the punching of holes on leather or the act of hand sewing are all gestures with a mantric and meditative power and an emotive indelible connection to people and places.
I hope the viewers can find in these fragments traces of their own intimate selves.
I was born in Sardinia, Italy, in 1967.
With no formal training, I moved in 1987 to Milan, where I found employment as a gardener and so gained access to homes which had extraordinary art collections. My summers were spent touring Italy with various theatre companies, assembling their sets.
After moving to Brixton, London, two years later, I started an apprenticeship as a furniture maker, working side by side with other makers, designers and artists from all creative fields.
As an aspiring artist I enrolled at the Camberwell College of Arts, but my aversion to formal education meant that I soon opted out of art school altogether. Instead, I went on to refurbish interiors, to design and make furniture, decorative objects and sculptures, and I collaborated with many artists by creating supporting structures for their work and for their live performances.
In 1998 I produced a body of site-specific work for “Somasite”, an interdisciplinary collaboration held in Brixton in direct dialogue with Ernst Fischer, a performance artist.
My love of collecting art objects took me back in 2003 to Milan, where I found employment working side by side with renowned experts in Italian arts and design. It was also an opportunity to visit workshops and artists’ studios all across northern Italy.
On my return to London in 2007 I set up a gallery/showroom to sell the design pieces gathered during my frequent visits to Italy, and to promote the works of contemporary architects, artists and designers.
In 2019 my history in the various fields of the arts came full circle and I began to revisit my own creativity. I’m now working as a full time artist, experimenting with materials and techniques that have a direct emotional link to my cultural heritage and early life experiences.