Whatever They May Do May It All Turn Out Wrong

Here, ancient graffiti and signs are combined with  modern doodles and embroidered ontotulle. These are then transferred into a photogram.

The exhibition Whatever They Do May It All Turn Out Wrong, specifically conceived for the spaces of Villa delle Rose, was realised during a seven-week residency period at the Sandra Natali Residence for Artists. This is my second collaborative body of work with Jean-Baptiste Maitre.

We have been interested in reappropriating linguistic and figurative forms acquired from diverse cultural traditions, and turning them into images that contain and condense centuries of history.

Graffiti and signs, both ancient and modern, are selected and transposed into compositions on velvet and linoleum sheets, tulle, paper and canvas. The subjects depicted thus strip themselves of their original space and time, awakening to a renewed, independent existence. Similarities, overlaps and shifts are encapsulated in an aesthetic system that calls on spectators to generate new connections and new meanings.

The show, as well as its catalogue, have been conceived as mirror-like organisms, identical but reversed. Inspired by the spatial symmetry of the exhibition space, evident in the position and size of the first three rooms of the two floors of the villa, we chose to create a “duplicate scenery”: the works on the ground floor are reflected in those of the first floor, and vice versa. The subjects are repeated, taking shape through different materials, techniques and surfaces, creating a correspondence with the space that houses them, and giving viewers a unified experience.