At the Bardo Museum in Tunis, literature, source of inspiration, becomes an exhibition
The titanic and fascinating endeavour of Chiara Montenero, eclectic poet and writer, is to transpose the essence and the atmosphere of the literary work of famous authors onto the limited space of a canvas. Ms Montenero came to the realm of visual arts thanks to an original technique which immediately turned into a recognisable trait in the work that she will exhibit at the Bardo Museum in Tunis from 28 September to 22 October.
The exhibition, which is set up in the Museum’s prestigious Sousse Hall, is named after her latest book “Raccontamenti” (“Story-telling”), a collection of stories that are a mix of short stories, fairy tales and poems: fables for childlike adults.
Drawing upon her writing experience, the artist touches upon the great classics of literature, taking visitors by hand and guiding them across remote epochs and lands, through the filter of visual arts. She creates a sort of passionate embrace between words and forms that reveals through a compositional artifice around the geometric shape of a square, which is then declined in all possible positions and sizes and that, like a third eye, sets the image in motion and releases an energy palpable to the eye of the onlooker.
“Her square is at the same time a fixed point of reference, a confirmation and a surprise that we could find in other guises in her future work,” Irene Niosi, the curator of the exhibition, wrote in the introduction to “Raccontamenti”, in which Montenero asks herself: “After all, what is life if not a sequence of words? Words that, like the hands of a clock, mark our time. Words that, like pictures on barren walls, decorate our space. Words whispered, shouted, harboured, forgotten. Words to explain, to lie, to love, to hurt. Words. Moments of Life. Words written in order not to die. Words to become a story.”
In the passionate embrace between words and forms, expressed through vibrant and impacting brushstrokes, lies the interpretation key to this exhibition now on show at the Bardo Museum also thanks to the support of the Italian Cultural Institute in Tunis in cooperation with the management of the Museum. It is the first solo exhibition by an Italian artist in this museum of such great relevance for Tunisia and for the Mediterranean Countries.
