Mare nostrum

Marble and rope are meaningfully placed in dialogue by Maria Dompè, who frequently combined these two materials of very different origin, one noble and the other lowly, in her early works in Rome. The artist appears to stage an imaginary dialogue between the two elements. Juxtaposed with elegant sobriety in a form that almost suggests the newly unearthed capital of a column, they tell their tales, lost and found in time and memory. The travertine recalls the splendour of temples, the majesty of palaces, the engineering of bridges and aqueducts, the majestic edifices that illuminated the Mediterranean of culture and knowledge with their whiteness. The net recalls the humble and necessary trades, the hands smelling of fish and brine, the incessant sound of the waves and the hard lives of the fishermen, sailors and dreamers who sailed what the Romans called mare nostrum, “our sea”, thirsting for life. (Transl. by Paul Metcalfe per Scriptum, Roma)