Talisman
Hot sealed flower petals, 21x29 cm, 2021.
Amulets and talismans have always been of great help to prehistoric and ancient peoples. Their role was mainly to ward off the evil eye, to bring good luck in earthly life. Talismans were used daily to grant wishes; amulets had the function of protecting and bringing well-being to the wearer. Findings from archaeology testify to the existence of cults among various ancient peoples scattered around the world related to the veneration of the sexes. Particularly in ancient Greece and the Roman period we find many amulets of male form, the erect penis with wings, legs, or with the head of a panther. Progressively abolished by the appearance of clerical power, they disappeared or were transformed under the will of censorship.
Another amulet we still find in Italy today is the Manus fica, an amulet that combines the dual generative force of the man's organ and the woman's organ. A forearm with a clenched fist hand to make the so-called "Manus Fica" (or by running the thumb between the index and middle fingers), which alludes to the female genitals, and the forearm to the male organ.
In the work Talisman, erect phalluses cut from pages of flower petals of different species are proposed as a new form of talisman inspired by the Manus Fica.
Deliberately aesthetic and symbolic, the work is an ironic provocation but also a desire to convey an idea of the conjunction of opposites, which we find in the research done by alchemy in wanting to merge binary concepts to create an ideal of an interconnected world.
120 copies were made for the artist magazine BAU 18 - Contenitore di Cultura, Viareggio.
