MATtam 73
Manto Arte Temporanea | Temporary Art Manto
short exhibitions in found spaces
Sala Ex Sissa | Palazzo Te | Mantua
Antonella Sabatini
The washouse of prayers
Sunday October 20th 2024
only between 10:30 AM and 12:30 PM
The Washhouse of Prayers is a body of work that takes shape from the autobiographical experiences of the artist. Between photography and sculpture, the inability to give voice to one's inner self, uprooted in childhood from the familiar place of origin, is expressed through five thousand mini white porcelain sculptures of varying shapes, all united by a "hole," perceived as a symbol of liberation. In Antonella Sabatini's poetics, the hole represents the very medium through which the mute interiority of an existence emerges. The works, sometimes translated from sculptures into photographic images and videos, undergo a process of contamination between language and the signs that represent it, giving voice to a private realm that does not need to be shouted but rather embraced, accepted, and finally "washed." The selected images propose the metamorphic process of words freeing themselves from the inability to express and, in doing so, activating a process of habitation. The space where the porcelains are located assumes a dual significance; it is both private and public and is experienced by the artist as a mirror of her own interiority. Gradually, it is not only inhabited by the works but also by the physicality of bodies that listen and remember.
Antonella Sabatini (St. Gallen, Switzerland, 1964) is a multidisciplinary artist whose research spans photography, sculpture, and dance. For twenty years, she collaborated with photographic production and communication companies. In 2001, she co-founded Di Tullio srl with Giorgio Di Tullio, a cultural research company for design innovation operating internationally. Trained by Katia Migliori, since 2020 she has collaborated with Luca Panaro on the contemporary image project and artist book archive Chippendale Studio (Milan). She has exhibited at Hangarfest (Pesaro), Impronte Femminili – Review of Art and Culture for Equal Opportunities and Rights, Galleria Gasparelli (Fano), Centrale Festival (Fano), The Phair – Photoartfair (Turin), Cragallery (Turin), Sit Group (Republic of San Marino), Teatro Petrella (Longiano), Fonderia Pescheria – Spazio Bianco (Pesaro).
"The evocation of lived time multiplies forms, arranging them according to a pattern of voids and fullness, shadows and brightness, generating continuous vibrations that invite silence." Donata Negrini
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