Photography (MA)
Maria Teresa Scarabello
Artist, designer, performer, writer in constant metamorphosis. The research-based method on critical historical sites is part of an investigation to re-fiction the present into the past and excavate forgotten narratives to light, whilst constantly reflecting on her own position within such landscape.
Graduated from her BA in Design (First Class) in Italy, started at the RCA in the MA City Design in the School of Architecture, to then shift back to image making in the current Photography MA.
Lived and practiced in Itay, Japan, Palestine, Hong Kong, New York - currently based in London.
RECENT_ Shortlisted for Blooomberg New Contemporaries 2020, featured artist in the publication 'Sharing Paths to Creation' by Re(s)public Collective April 2020, artist in residence in New York Sept-Dec 2019, photographer for the book ‘Multiplo, Transformation in Design’ by Studio Gisto - presented at Oslo Architecture Triennale 2019
Constant Metamorphosis
'Holy Grail' Seneca Village Memory — Central Park, NYC 2019 C-Type print, 143x127 cm
'Dried Dreams' Seneca Village Memory — Central Park, NYC 2019 C-Type print, 163x127 cm
'Sacred Crust' Seneca Village Memory — Central Park, NYC 2019 C-Type print, 71,5x127 cm
'Mouth of Truth' Seneca Village Memory — Central Park, NYC 2019 C-Type print, 124,8x127 cm
'Plato's Cave' Seneca Village Memory — Central Park, NYC 2019 C-Type print on metallic paper, 150x127 cm
'Silver Surface' Seneca Village Memory — Central Park, NYC 2019 Digital silver gelatine print, 30x40 cm
'Halo Site' Seneca Village Memory — Central Park, NYC 2019 4x5" negative
Mythical Poiesis of Seneca Village Memory — literally 'myth crafting', represent the milestone in the Perec-ian exercise of exploring memories of a site in multiple written forms . Legend crafted inspired by Calvino's 'Invisible Cities', started in New York, 2019 - London, 2020
'This is not an Apology' Seneca Village Memory — Poem written on site Central Park, NYC 2019
Seneca Village takes its name from the famous philosopher - you know, the Roman one - or perhaps from ’Senegal’, origins of its old inhabitants, or maybe from the Native American tribe, the Seneca nation, once settled here in Central Park.
Because Seneca Village is about Central Park, but it’s also about Seneca village. About what came before the park, previous to its design. Before those fountains, before the lakes, before the boat houses and the benches, before the very peculiar lanterns; and the pictures, and the skaters and the clowns and its painters. Of what was taken, before even came the tourists.
Now, remembrance of things past - A door closes shut in distance and a bunch of children screams beyond the lawn, while a restless mooing comes from the stable’s corner. Can you hear the loud splattering of heavy boots, stomping into puddles left by a three-days-rain which now look like holy grails? It’s clearly irritating for the woman sitting on a dry patch of weeds, hiding in the tall grass. She wishes to rest all day on the shiny rock, lulled by a heart-warming sun, not scrubbing mud from the porch instead.
(something to connect the two sections)
So it goes, Seneca Village the city of layers, the city of multitudes. A city living on multiple strata, for its shape no longer finds boundaries across the surface, but thinly grows upside down, below the ground. Hidden scratches on geological terrain, where (the) stone becomes material witness of forgotten memories. And memories consist of merging layers, threads of stories we’d like to be told, whereas the one of Seneca is still laying hidden, not by choice, but as if dormant under the blanket of forgetfulness.
However, if you stand here again, all those memories may resurface, like an ancient subterranean river - which rumbles even louder if you listen closer, face pricked by the grass, nose right in the pond.
Because Seneca Village is about Central Park, but it’s also about Seneca village. About what came before the park, previous to its design. Before those fountains, before the lakes, before the boat houses and the benches, before the very peculiar lanterns; and the pictures, and the skaters and the clowns and its painters. Of what was taken, before even came the tourists.
Now, remembrance of things past - A door closes shut in distance and a bunch of children screams beyond the lawn, while a restless mooing comes from the stable’s corner. Can you hear the loud splattering of heavy boots, stomping into puddles left by a three-days-rain which now look like holy grails? It’s clearly irritating for the woman sitting on a dry patch of weeds, hiding in the tall grass. She wishes to rest all day on the shiny rock, lulled by a heart-warming sun, not scrubbing mud from the porch instead.
(something to connect the two sections)
So it goes, Seneca Village the city of layers, the city of multitudes. A city living on multiple strata, for its shape no longer finds boundaries across the surface, but thinly grows upside down, below the ground. Hidden scratches on geological terrain, where (the) stone becomes material witness of forgotten memories. And memories consist of merging layers, threads of stories we’d like to be told, whereas the one of Seneca is still laying hidden, not by choice, but as if dormant under the blanket of forgetfulness.
However, if you stand here again, all those memories may resurface, like an ancient subterranean river - which rumbles even louder if you listen closer, face pricked by the grass, nose right in the pond.
Medium:
Analogue Photography and Writings
'Darkness Moanings: Gnarling Teeth' — Poem composed during one of the series of performances started as Instagram Lives in March - May 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown in London
'Darkness Moanings: Spiky Feelings' — Latest poem composed specifically for the 2020 show
'Darkness Moanings: On Darkness and the Unconscious' — Poem presented during the Instagram Live takeover of the RCA MA Photography account in May 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown in London
'Darkness Moanings: Poem Structure' — example of the process needed to compose a poem, in the case of a planned performance
'Oneiric Topos' created on the artist's desktop screen in a digital performance featuring video, imagery, live poetry writing, sound and storytelling. The objective is to create a 'dream place', in a mutually agreed upon illusion of a physical site, where the essence of the forgotten Seneca Village activates conversations and self-questioning in the artist as well as in the public - all the while both sides witnessing the crafting of a text, sprouting organically from the situation, by the hand of the performer.
The entire process was thought and conducted as act of resilience against the isolating apathy of the lockdown in London, which then became a method.
The documentation consists in a collage/screenshot of the desktop arrangement with the final text included (the performance is not meant to be recorded)
The entire process was thought and conducted as act of resilience against the isolating apathy of the lockdown in London, which then became a method.
The documentation consists in a collage/screenshot of the desktop arrangement with the final text included (the performance is not meant to be recorded)
Medium:
Digital PerformancesUnresolved — Thursday, 23rd July at 19:30 - BST
Performance on next phases, new eras and big quotes - all of them unresolved
Live streaming performance piece around landscape, poetry writing, memory and history
Thursday, 23rd July at 19:30 - BST
Live streaming performance piece around landscape, poetry writing, memory and history
Live streaming performance piece around landscape, poetry writing, memory and history
Medium:
live23 July 2020
18:30 (GMT + 0)
Maria Teresa Scarabello: Unresolved
Performance on next phases, new eras and big quotes.