Image description: A sculptural installation. A light burns in a box covered with stretched red plastic. Red strings are knotted and draped around and between objects. White pouches, covered in spines, loll together on the floor. They are secured with red threads at the top. Drawings of cactus feature on many surfaces including a wall-mounted paper sculpture. Irregular pieces of concrete prop up objects or serve as plinths.
Arse End of Nowhere explores the social and physical landscape of Calabria, a southern region of Italy. The work considers the code of silence, omertà, which makes the regional mafia, the ‘ndrangheta, one of the most impenetrable in the world. Lyrics from ‘Il Canto di Malavita’ or ‘Songs of a Bad Life’, written for and by the ‘ndrangheta, directly informed the works. One piece functions as an essential oil burner diffusing fennel, oregano, bergamot and eucalyptus oils reminiscent of the air in Mandatoricci.