Two Cabinets of Experiments and a Hope (installation, Historic Dockyard, Chatham, 2014

This is a composite work, including an installation, a video and a performance. My aim is to open a debate about the right of mankinds intrusion in nature and to reflect upon the question of where is the line that defines our limits and what could possibly be the consequences of not respecting them. The theme across my work is a documented analysis of what is happening in La Terra dei Fuochi (the land of fires), an area of Italy highly polluted from toxic waste.

 

The installation consists of 2 cabinets. 

The cabinet n. 1, on its top surface, has 12 pots of cubic shape, made of clear acrylic cut by laser, where I planted tomatoes. Each pot is labelled with the name of a town of La Terra dei Fuochi and a list of toxic substances recently found in the soil of those areas (Ferrillo A., 2013).  In the drawers there are plants giving power” to fairy lights” representing the power in nature.

 

In the cabinet n. 2, on the wall there are 5 photographs of flowers sprouts, grown by me in studio in a compost mixed with gravels and engine oil, the photos are accompanied with a text/diary where I document the short life of those plant. 

On the first shelf from the top there are 4 mini worlds where nature has overgrown, taking over men’s world. At the bottom shelf a similar concept is highlighted by a neon sign “overgrown” empowered by an organic battery made of lemons and tomatoes cans.