Naked and dressed-up

(color on stone in Pantelleria)

Pantelleria is a place where I have lived for a long time and where I have extensively thought about the importance – or relevance – of various aspects of life. The days on a small island far away from everything: in the heart of the Mediterranean sea, it emerges proudly from the blue waters with its dark rocks, firmly anchored from the forces of winds and waves, nourishing its lawns, mosses, woods, gardens. 

What is there on Pantelleria? I can only answer, that there is nothing, and that there is everything.  

In a more simple daily routine, lacking the multitudes of city life, I was feeling free and in touch with my inner self as part of the natural world. Me, naked as the island’s black rocks. And from that “ground zero”, I was considering the infinite possibilities of dressing up: adding, constructing – from the world of the island towards other worlds. 

So, I started painting the stones that cover the outer walls of the dammusi, the traditional houses of Pantelleria, and vases and sculptures. I have dressed them up: with lime, and with a color, with pigments, that would represent something meaningful to me or to those who asked me to paint their stones. For instance, for this outdoor fireplace I have used a fire-red pigment, reminding me of the fireplace traditional to my hometown, the bricks and the facades of Venice, and the warmth of home. A few days earlier, I had chosen my current apartment in Venice, and that “dress” points at that point in time in my life.