«Young Italian Artists. Contemporary Art Stories», ongoing space and archive dedicated to key players in the contemporary art world, who are under 35, conceived by Antonello Tolve, and curated with Elena Giulia Rossi, welcomes Chiara Amici and her work to be part of it.
Books are containers for stories and, since I am mainly concerned with storytelling, the book has always been of fundamental importance to me. Modulating the narrative already present on paper, making it my own or distorting it has become my language: what I want to say and what the book has already said are two voices that travel alongside each other on the pages where I decide to intervene. In some cases this is an act of rebellion against the untouchability of certain cultural topics, such as the Catholicism, or an attempt to approach several complex notions. For this reason, I prefer using books that focus on scientific subjects such as physics, geology, astronomy and mathematics, or, on the other hand, religious books such as the Bible and prayer books. This represents my metaphorical attempt to rewrite history, combining my personal vision with what has already been defined in the past.
Stitching and collage represent the next steps: this action establishes my physical proximity to the object, on which I project my need to reconstruct, hold together, transform and sublimate an experience. I recount what I have experienced, so what I am exploring includes autobiographical subjects, interpersonal relationships, memories of the body, the family and the need to find an identity, which I reproduce in a non-figurative way. My everyday life reflects everyday collective life, which I try to connect to. That is why the materials I use are mainly recycled: in them I look for contact with another dimension and with all those who have already touched and used these surfaces, as opposed to a disposable reality where matter loses all value, care or maintenance, and is not worthy of being handed down. Sewing, piercing, joining, glueing, erasing and unravelling are ritual operations, repeated and meditative, transcending pure and simple physical action, becoming redemptive gestures that bring us closer to the slow, quiet rhythms that have been forgotten. So attentive actions contrast with and rebel against speed and constant distraction, becoming exercises in concentration.
Chiara Amici, January 12, 2020
