On the occasion of XIII Culture Week, Thursday 16 May at 6.00 pm will be inaugurated in the evocative setting of the spaces of the Church of S. Euno and Giuliano in Piazza Magione, the exhibition I will carry you in blood Of Allegra Hicks edited by Mario Codognatothe exhibition project, wanted by President of the Friends of Sicilian Museums Association, Bernardo Tortorici di Raffadali was also created thanks to the collaboration ofDepartment of Culture of the Municipality of Palermo.
I will carry you in blood represents another important piece that adds to the artistic career of Allegra Hicks, already sealed in the recent exhibitions hosted at the Baert Gallery and Palazzo Polignac in Venice and in Naples in the Church of the Misericordiella.
Confronting the place, the artist uses the two levels of the Church to give life to a story which, through decoding signs and suggestions, creates a narrative based on the relationship between the Sacred and the Profane, between Life and Death, where they find their place and they recognize Hope and Faith.
It is thus that on the first level Hicks traces a blood-red flow crystallized in an immense drop that hangs on one side of the space, acting as a counterbalance to it, a more ethereal image of the same which in the light reveals its diaphanous and ghostly sign that it attracts the viewer’s gaze until it absorbs it, sucks it into an indefinable space. The drop reiterates not only the symbol but also the material and tangible reconstruction of the fluidity and continuous transformation of things and existence, of the fragility of human relationships.
In the hypogeum area of the Church the artist continues his story by laying bare the immense act of human faith, elevating it to a concrete anthropological symbol through the creation of Ex Voto. For the 36 niches present in the crypt, Hicks places as many works: 18 canvases representing organs – eyes, heart, intestine, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas etc. – actual elements that fulfill the role of acts of prayer, to which are concretely connected, through a thin red thread, as many 18 works, Ex Votos representing the same bodies. Crystallized in a resin casing with the voluntary intention of stopping the action in time, the works thus become the symbol of a grace, of a request fulfilled, revealing the passage of an act in fieri ad ex factum.
Presenting ‘I’ll carry you in blood’ in Palermo after having shown part of this exhibition in Naples is an incredible emotion for me. I was deeply impressed by the space of the Church of S. Euno e Giuliano, with its severe but pure aura, and especially by its crypt, which further inspired my creation. The new works enrich this exhibition with an even more intimate dimension, almost like a moment of devotion. Living in Naples, I was immersed in this world in which religiosity and paganism coexist, remaining profoundly fascinated by itdeclares the artist. The canvases therefore represent prayers, while the resins, the ex-votos, are the crystallization of these prayers, the fulfillment of the supplications.
Like an alchemist, the artist fuses drawings and materials, colors and objects into a unicum, which emerges as something new and deliberately not attributable to a precise definition, precisely like a liquid substance in appearance and intentions, even when it is solid.
I’ll carry you in my blood – Allegra Hicks
16 May – 16 June – Church of S. Euno and Giuliano Piazza Magione – Palermo
Allegra Hicks
Over the last decade, Allegra Hicks’ work has focused on unique pieces that investigate the inseparable relationship between art and design. Focusing on the origin of her painting, Allegra’s new works weave the landscape of an internal and external “human nature”. Allegra presents her first collection of tapestries at the Giustini Stagetti Gallery in Rome in 2017. In 2018 her exhibition at the Gallerie Riunite in Naples presents a series of paintings entitled “Mapping the Soul” which will subsequently move to the Istituto Italiano Di Cultura in London. Her work entitled the Miracle contributes to the contemporary art collection of the Pio Monte della Misericordia curated by Mario Codognato and has been on display in Naples since 2019. In December 2021 she created an exhibition of inks on canvas at the Bert Gallery in Los Angeles. In September 2022, during the glass week in Venice, you inaugurated an exhibition in the Palazzo Polignac warehouse. The piece, entitled Inside Outside II is a 63 square meter work of glass bead embroidery on canvas. In October 2022 she is part of CULT during EDIT -Naples with a tapestry entitled “Divination” in silk exhibited in the Sacristy of the Church of SS Filippo and Giacomo. On 16 September 23 she inaugurates the exhibition “I’ll take you to the blood” at the SMAAVE contemporary art center in Naples. Allegra Hicks works between London and Naples.
Culture Week
The Week of Cultures was born from a project by Gabriella Renier Filippone, supported by the Insieme per Palermo Committee established in October 2012 to support the candidacy of Palermo as European Capital of Culture. Subsequently, the Committee transformed into the Settimana delle Culture association.
The association, from 2013 to today, has organized eleven editions of the Settimana delle Culture Festival as well as numerous other events, in synergy with public and private institutions and bodies, divided into various cultural expressions and aimed at promoting individuals working in the artistic field and the increase in the use of cultural heritage by citizens and tourists, with particular attention to the most disadvantaged categories and to the multiculturalism strongly present in the Palermo communities. Thousands of events have animated and enlivened the entire territory, involving for this organization institutions, museums, city sites, associations, public and private subjects who have produced theatrical performances, conferences, seminars, exhibitions, literary walks, guided tours, screenings, literary events , etc. The Head of State Sergio Mattarella donated a medal as a representation prize at numerous editions of the event. The Settimana delle Culture association, in collaboration with the Friends of the Sicilian Museums, is also committed to safeguarding the artistic-monumental heritage of our city.
Church of S. Euno and Giuliano
Built between 1651 and 1658, on the initiative of the Confraternity of the Seggettieri (or vasti di cinga, the palanquins who carried customers between the 13th and 18th centuries on seats equipped with rods, sometimes closed or covered), it gradually fell into ruin after the advent of modern means of transport and the disappearance, therefore, of the so-called “flying chairs”. The bombings of ’43 almost completely destroyed it. Abandoned and used for different uses, it was forgotten until 2006, when its recovery began, which ended in 2017 with the reopening and exhibition of an installation by the Egyptian artist Wael Shawky. The church has hosted various cultural events including Manifesta 2018, Arcipelago M
