Homelike: Sicilian folk art practices and the art of belonging
24 April – 19 May 2023
Open weekdays from 9am – 7pm
ARB atrium
This exhibition is concerned with the significance of Sicilian folk art practices and the exploration of displacement.
I am particularly interested in reflecting on how one specific folk art practice from my Sicilian culture provides possibilities for deepening our understanding of how human beings engage with, relate to, and/or express folk art practice in their daily lives.
While my primary focus is the ritual of ‘Malocchio’ (Evil Eye) from Sicilian cultural life, I also explore the Italian overlaps, connections with Witchcraft and the healing arts within them.
The ritual contributions are intended to bring my cultural traditions, rituals and practices into the present, as a way of expressing feelings and experiences of belonging.
Examining the Malocchio ritual included furthering collective practice, family and community group conversations, and the making of ritual objects used for the practice.
Together, we relived, reenacted and restored the folk practices’ authenticity which in turn developed the Malocchio as contemporary artwork.
The artwork highlights the cultural impact our mothers and grandmothers had on us, and that our feelings of displacement can be stabilised through acknowledging simple everyday domestic folk art practices.
ICAP: Italian Community Arts Project
This platform was created for the collection of artwork, objects, costumes and research in progress which visually illustrates a ‘Homelike’ existence, evidencing second-generation British-Sicilian/Italian experiences since 2014.
