GOD IS MOTHER (23.04.22 – 3.05.22)

curated by Riccardo Ferrucci – Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina, Pisa

PISA. The splendid interiors of the Church of Santa Maria della Spina in Pisa are home to sculptures by artist Gianfranco Meggiato in his exhibition “God is Mother” curated by Riccardo Ferrucci.

The exhibition comprises eleven new works designed and created specifically for the occasion. The event is a marvellous approach for making the work of the sculptor from Venice even better known.
These new works by Meggiato convey a message of peace. His objective is to go further, symbolically, in the search to overcome divisions: we are all human beings, we are all cells in the same organism, we are all One. Today more than ever there is a vital need to think of peace; the current war in Ukraine has overturned our certainties, leaving us dismayed by such destruction.

The site chosen for this exhibition – the Church of Santa Maria della Spina – consequently becomes even more evocative and in contact with spirituality, the search for harmony and above all for peace. Meggiato’s works blend extremely well into this setting; his sculptures combine mystical religious aspects and science whereby the union of contrasts and opposites seeks to encourage people to bond, to work together, in shared harmony because only such solidarity can make us freer, stronger and able to move forward. These works seek to launch a message of peace and brotherhood, a wish for strong and close unity.

“God is Mother” immediately highlights the religious transcendence inherent in Gianfranco Meggiato’s sculptures. Man has always been seduced by the supernatural and the nostalgia of the soul, together with the need for spirituality understood as an immaterial dimension, in addition to material reality.
The concept of spirituality concerns values of a non-bodily nature, the world of feelings, ideas, imagination, beliefs and divinity.

The title of the exhibition – “God is Mother” – is taken from an iconic phrase by Albino Luciani, Pope John Paul I, in 1978: “God always has his eyes open on us, even when it seems that night has fallen. He is our Father; and, even more so, our Mother.” Words of disconcerting current topical interest that invite us to profound thought.
According to quantum physics, the “mother” of the entire universe is made up of vibrating, subatomic micro-particles called strings. This is where the idea of the sculpture “God is Mother” came about and became the work that gives the exhibition its title.
It is shaped like an egg, as ever a symbol of birth, of life; an egg made up of the combination of many oscillating and multiform rings. The work embraces three spheres, representing the essence of human beings: rationality, instinct and soul.
The exhibition is organized by Casa d’Arte San Lorenzo, in collaboration with C.R.A. (Centro Raccolta Arte) and with the support of FuoriLuogo, as well as the patronage of the Tuscany Region and Pisa City Council.
A preview of the exhibition will be held on Friday 22 April 2022, at 11.00, attended by local dignitaries and the press. The exhibition will open to the public on Saturday 23 April at 17:00 and will remain open until Tuesday 3 May.

Opening times: Every day – 15.00-19.00. Admission is free of charge.