1994 Textile factory,
Prato (Italy)
Materials: travertine, textile
Dimensions: m 12,65 x 0,4 x h 1,5
Samsara, in Sanskrit, means ‘to turn in a circle’ and is the passage of the soul between birth and death, the cycle of existence. The large installation has been placed in a textile factory, a vast space dedicated to industrial production. It welcomes instead a unique work marked by the eternity of stone and the perishableness of fabric. In fact, as happens in the cycle of human life, fabric may fade, change color or lose some of its original characteristics over time. The work was donated to the Luigi Pecci Center for Contemporary Art.
Maria Dompè and Ida Panicelli have collaborated to create ‘Ridotti in stracci’ (‘Reduced to Rags’), a book of art containing photographs of Samsara, both full-shots and details, which are interwoven among Taoist sayings and beautiful poetic texts by Panicelli. Along with photos of the sculpture, there are photos of fragmented stone bodies dressed in a complete wardrobe from underwear to shoes to back-packs.
Laura Iamurri