Lucaya Diary for Sylvia (Valeria Vaccari, 2018)

The works that Monika Wolf has created for this exhibition are the intimate logbook of a journey she made with her sister Sylvia that led her to the fine white sandy beaches of Lucaya on the island of Grand Bahama. On this occasion too, she brought along her tepee, the mobile home of the prairie Indians, a perfect cone formed by a framework of poles slanting around a central axis and tied together at the top. These dwellings are covered with tanned bison skins and decorated with sacred images related to the celestial powers, the passage of the seasons, hunting or medicine. The geometric figure of the isosceles triangle, reminiscent of the tepee, serves the artist to encapsulate the nuances of a layered, ever-changing emotional universe. A universe in which everything is cyclical: it is born, blooms, and comes to full maturity, then rots and dies only to return in another form. Characteristic of her work is the use of recycled, discarded material found locally and inserted into the composition to emphasise the link with the elements of Nature in which she is immersed: the water of the sea with its treasures, the fragrance of tropical flowers, the flavour of a fruit and the gift of its seeds, the tears of dew and those of rain. In the works on paper produced in Lucaya, Monika notes the brief rains alternating with a bright and invigorating sun, the pink of sunsets over the ocean fading to a deep purple, the trade winds blowing softening the climate, the shadows stretching across the sand. She alternates acrylic painting with coloured pencils and collage, enriching the composition with small relics returned by the tides, shells, polished glass, plastic fragments. The direction of the graphic sign pushes the spectator’s gaze upwards in the direction of a symbolic ascent to heaven.

Valeria Vaccari, 11 September 2018, for the personal exhibition at Fondazione Bipielle, Lodi

Watch: 1. Lucaya Diary for Sylvia (2018) ‣

Watch also: video about the exhibition at Bipielle Foundation (2018) ‣