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Alessia Campanella

The Conversation

Dimensions

250 ✕ 250 ✕ 400 cm

Keywords

Death | Conversation | Comunity | Tomb | Shapes

Materials

Clay sculptures, table, chair, fabric tent, audiovisual live stream

Death has always been central to human history. Mourning and moral questions about how we treat the dead are deeply engrained in cultural rituals. However, in modern society the sanctity of death is often violated, as burial objects meant for the afterlife are removed and displayed in museums. Because of this, questions in society are raised about respect and preservation of the dead. Alessia, drawn to the relationship between death and memory, reflects on these ethical dilemmas. Living in a world where death is often sacred yet distanced, she explores how we can balance understanding the past with the respect owed to the dead.

A space for participants is created to explore such moral questions. As they shape clay, this act becomes a metaphor for confronting mortality, illustrating how thoughts transform matter. Shaping the clay mirrors the human effort to give form to intangible concepts like death and memory. This creative act, both personal and collective, serves as a symbolic ritual: a way to give form to thought. The work becomes a meditation on mortality, where memory, ritual, and creative expression come together, turning abstract ideas into tangible reflections on life, death, and the afterlife.

[ @ppperfidious ]