Nelumbo

Nelumbo does not want to educate or express judgments, on the contrary it shows in its own way a cross-section of contemporary reality. By abstracting it from the context through the macro technique, the animal is brought to a higher plane and at the same time the superfluous is eliminated. Each portrait is a word that comes to meet us. The difficult condition that cows live is crystallized in marble and statuary images; the oxymoronic track on which the work is placed is the key to understanding it fully.

The closer you get to the skin of animals, the further you go away, seeing ethereal and almost metaphysical images: the folds of their coat guide the observer from page to page. Gradually the signs of life they lead become more evident, until the eye is forced to widen the field of vision to reach the last image in which the cow reveals itself. Nelumbo lives from the split between great opposites: good and bad, beautiful and ugly, enchanting and repulsive. The book wants to underline how these antithetical terms are constantly in balance and closer than one might think. The chaos of the barn becomes harmony and pause, thus creating a transcendent aura of “non-action” that pervades almost the whole book: the actions have already taken place.

The peace and calm that the images offer are the starting point for a deeper reflection. The antinomical dimension between the images and the place from which they come, wants to give honor and composure to these animals. Despite the mud, these lotus flowers remain pure.