Sulphur Perticara, 2018, contact calcography of Monte Aquilone – pigments and graphite on paper 32 x 69 cm

foto / photo Michele Alberto Sereni

Once there was the Ocean - Mt.Zeil, West MacDonnell Range, 2016, frottage - graphites and chalk on paper, 150x600 cm. foto / photo Michele Alberto Sereni

Melting Glaciers - Brenta, 2017, diptych, frottage - graphites and natural pigments on paper, 200x150 cm

The series Antenati, started by the artist in 2012, is devoted to the natural elements that have created the territories on which we live: these are changing quickly or even disappearing as we know them, due to natural or human agents. These also include the cultural landscape, with their traditions and habits, which are strictly linked to the territories to which are connected. The casts on paper and cellulose represent fragments of reality which leave little to be interpreted because they were removed and are genuine prints of the surfaces.
The series started with some trees, symbolic for their monumental nature and iconic figures for the tradition of man’s life. The project has developed over time to pass to the greater heads of the family: mountains, the real generating mothers of the landscape. These big casts are nothing but portraits, bearers of history and memory of the places where they belong and that will soon change like glaciers. Mt Zeil is the highest peak of West MacDonnell Range in the red desert of central Australia, which was covered by an oce- an millions of years ago. The work is part of the series Ancestors, started by the artist in 2012, devoted to the greater heads of the landscape that formed the territory. These portraits of mountains and fore- sts are the casts of portions of the landscape, which change quickly or will even disappear as we know them, due to natu- ral or human agents. Related to these visible natural places there is a cultural landscape, the one of the men who live in the territory and developed their culture in relation to the environment that vibrates with their stories. In this case, the mountain is about the cultural landscape of the Indigenous Australians who live there. “The landscape is inside the man who makes it”. Monte Aquilone is the Italian example of a very important hi- storical, geological and anthropic territory because, until the 60s, it was the biggest solfatara in Europe, with more than 24 miles of tunnels; it is as well the archeological site where prehistoric artefacts were rediscovered. The marl calcareous mountain originated in North-West Italy and it run aground be- cause of tectonic movements against the Monte Pincio-Perti- cara millions of years ago.