l’ultime sette parole
San Ciro, Atena Lucana, 2018

The title was drawn from the religious context of the site, the church of San Ciro, and the deep faith practiced by the local farming community into which I was born.”
L’ultime Sette Parole (The Last Seven Words) refer to the the last seven statements made by Christ on while nailed to the cross. Each statement represent a word: Forgiveness, Salvation, Relationship, Abandonment, Distress, Triumph and Reunion. The statements from which these words are drawn are usually part of the payers of Lent. Lent is the solemn Christian religious observance in the liturgical year commemorating the 40 days Jesus Christ spent fasting in the desert.
To make the work, I borrowed the wheel barrow I gave my mother for her 85th birthday, filled it with locally produced ancient wheat and inserted 7 neon rings. The wheat holds deep symbolism for local farmers. It used to be the main source of a large part of their economy. A poor wheat harvest usually meant lean winters, sacrifice and suffering. The installation became a point of conversation between myself and the faithful that came to pray and the familiar in contrast with the abstract.

*This was the first (1st) site-specific installation for the festival La Terra Mi Tiene** in Atena Lucana. The festival, in it's fifth (5th) year, celebrates agrarian customs and culture of the Italian South, known prior to the unification of Italy in 1870, as the Regno delle Due Sicilie. The festival takes its title from a poem by the poet and social activist Rocco Scotellaro - meaning the earth which holds me. The vent is organized by a new generation of farmers who consider themselves stewards of the land and responsible to continue the small farming traditions of their ancestors by planting ancient grains - an act of resistance against the seed manipulation by multinational corporations such a Monsanto.

**La Terra mi Tiene is a festival held every year in Atena Lucana, on Italy’s Liberation Day, April 25th (April 23-25). Bread makers from all over and many walks of life, gather to make bread using traditional methods and old yeast cultures, to raise awareness of the need to liberate society from the globalization of food production, which is destroying bio-diversity everywhere. It is a call to return to the land and practice local, sustainable food production, preserve ancient seeds and farming practices, so humans, animals, and plants can coexists for the sake of a healthier planet. Art, musics, poetry readings, story telling and cooking activities take place around the central event of firing numerous wood fired brick ovens that are part of abandoned homes of the historic center of the town.