Just the same skin, no soul.

I have no unshakable faith,

I have no light and resilience ,

I do not transcend the suffering of the body,

I do not see the divine beyond the real.

I consider time to change my breath.

To pierce the darkness on the altar, I would like to be like You to elevate the visible and my soul

will be free, so there is no defeat.

Reggio Emilia, 12.01.2025

Illuminating Grace: Between Body and Spirit

The work Grazia Illuminante expresses the tension between corporeity and transcendence, between human frailty and spiritual enlightenment. The sculpted hand, a central element, symbolises the human condition: anchored in material reality but reaching out towards the divine, in a gesture that oscillates between offering and prayer.

The eyes, made of woven threads and crystals, represent sight not only as a physical sense, but as introspection and spiritual perception. The choice of materials – nylon, flesh-coloured silk, Swarovski crystals – creates a contrast between ephemeral and durable, evoking the duality between body and soul.

In the background, the look taken from a work by Francesco del Cossa (Santa Lucia, 1479) introduces the presence of a transcendent witness. Saint Lucy, symbol of light and resilience, recalls the concept of illuminating grace, a central theme also in the Divine Comedy. Light here becomes a spiritual guide, capable of transcending physical pain to reveal a higher dimension.

The work is thus configured as a symbolic altar, where the female body becomes a metaphor for resistance and sacredness. Through the fusion of matter and light, Grazia Illuminante invites us to reflect on the relationship between the visible and invisible, offering a vision in which suffering is sublimated into a luminous spiritual force.

C. Mottola

Critico d’arte presso MACM

www.macm.com