My VOYAGE starts in the hinterland of Palermo- Sicily,  where I was born and where I lived for the majority of my life. I lived and still work in a cultural community called “Trinità della Pace”, located in the heart of Sicily. Here, with the help of the local community, I had the opportunity to redesign and rebuild an hermitage, a church and two libraries, from abandoned pre-existing buildings.

Despite their differences, all these projects follow the artistic concept of Syncretism, used in Sicily for centuries, especially within the Arab-Noman style.

FOCUS

The UNESCO Heritage Arab-Norman is a series of nine religious and civic structures dating from the era of the Norman kingdom of Sicily (1130-1194). Collectively, they are an outstanding example of a socio-cultural syncretism between Western, Islamic, and Byzantine cultures. This interchange gave rise to an architectural and artistic expression based on novel concepts of space, structure, and decoration that spread widely throughout the Mediterranean region.

The innovative re-elaboration of architectural forms, structures, and materials and their artistic, decorative, and iconographic treatments – most conspicuously the rich and extensive tesserae mosaics, pavements in opus sectile, marquetry, sculptural elements, paintings, and fittings – celebrate the fruitful coexistence of people of different origins.

RESIDENCY

I’m currently working at the  redecoration of the main library of the Trinità della Pace community. My inspiration is one of the most beautiful Unesco Heritage buildings in Sicily: The Cappella Palatina.

With a very unique style, influenced by Fatimid art, the Chapel's nave reminds of Islamic reception halls, with the presence of the muqarnas vaulted ceiling and the arches along the colonnade.

MY VOYAGE

My voyage is divided into 2  parts:

1.     My projects within the Community. In this part of the residency I will recap my main projects and activities within the Comunità Trinità della Pace.

2.     The library ceiling - towards a new concept of muqarnas. I will use   3d modelling and 3d printing for creating  the main model of the ceiling.  It will take more than 6 months to complete  the project. But the Voyage has already started.