Palm crosses, croci di palma and palmsonntag

Luci Callipari-Marcuzzo

These palm crosses were made as part of my Bachelor of Visual Arts Honours year in 2013.

The crosses grew out of an obsession I developed with Anselm Kiefer’s work Palmsonntag, shown as part of the exhibition Anselm Kiefer : aperiatur terra, recent work, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2007. Kiefer’s work was inspired by the Catholic liturgy for Lent and Palm Sunday. The large scale installation included an inscription of text from the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah;

Aperiatur terra et germinat Salvatorem… rorate caeli desuper, et pluant iustum. (Let the earth open and bring forth a Saviour …. Let the clouds above rain down justice on the earth.)

Isaiah 45.8

Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. In many Christian churches, Palm Sunday includes a procession of the assembled worshipers carrying palms, representing the palm branches the crowd scattered in front of Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem.

The tradition of palm cross making for the Palm Sunday mass goes back hundreds of years; the leaves of the palm were often shaped and woven into little crosses and other symbolic designs. This custom was originated by a suggestion in the ceremonial book for bishops that "little crosses of palm" be attached to the boughs wherever true palms are not available in sufficient quantity.

The crosses are blessed before the church service and are then given to worshipers to take home, these are kept for twelve months, when traditionally they would be burnt to ash and used to mark the foreheads of parishioners attending the Ash Wednesday mass, which marks the beginning of Lent[1], a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar of many Christian denominations and covers a period of approximately six weeks before Easter Day.

Palm crosses, croci di palma and palmsonntag developed into a collaborative effort after three friends (Jennifer Britten, Heather Lee and Antonette Zema) and I spent one Saturday afternoon at my home and together over cups of tea and cake, we made crosses from the palm’s fronds, duplicating those made for the Catholic Palm Sunday mass.

 

You are invited to take a cross home with you from within the whitecube and place it within your home as is practiced in the Christian tradition.

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[1] The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer through prayer, penance, repentance of sins, almsgiving, atonement and self-denial. This event, along with its pious customs are observed by Christians in the Anglican, Reformed, Lutheran, Methodist, and Roman Catholic traditions. Today, some Anabaptist and evangelical churches also observe the Lenten season.

Luci Callipari-Marcuzzo

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The Imaginary Enemy 

August Installation

graphite and ink on paper

I have been observing a family of Kookaburra’s from my first floor office window at work for around 18 months.  It has been interesting to watch them in their perch from the Century old Queensland Bottle tree.  Occasionally one of them will catch his reflection in the windows of the gallery stairwell and mistake it for a rival, and upon doing so flying at the glass to attack his imaginary enemy.  The birds don’t seem to cause themselves injury and usually after my protesting and tapping on the window pane, happily fly away, to laugh from another perch not too far away.

This got me thinking about how we unintentionally sabotage ourselves by mistaking what is real for what may be imagined.  As Cicero, the Roman philosopher, statesman and orator once said, “Man is his own worst enemy.”

Religious Icons

Installation View

Prayer cards and traditional women’s craft making inform this new body of work influenced by my family’s migration story, and how they built a new life with not much more than their faith in each other and god.

Their stories and particularly that of my recently deceased 101 year old maternal grandfather Francesco, will further inform this body of work. Recently rediscovered objects belonging to him and my family will also be woven into the story.

My family are a strong influence in my life. Both parents migrated to Australia from Italy in the 1950’s with their respective families. Their desire for a better life allowed them to build a modest life for their family from the land. Like other recently arrived migrants, they immersed themselves in the familiar and clung to the traditions and customs from their homeland.

Mum and Dad would take our family to Italian mass every Sunday, where we would listen, sing and pray in their native tongue. Once a year we would attend the annual Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary at Red Cliffs and participate in the procession through the local streets. We also visited other feast days, San Rocco at Buronga and the Madonna del Carmelo at Swan Hill. Mum collected the prayer cards given out at these events, some were also given to us by relatives who had attended other feast days.

As in my previous art making this new body of work is concerned with the many facets to a woman’s life; the duality of the soft feminine domestic goddess stereotype to the tough no nonsense, a theme that has become more evident in my work since becoming a mother in 2005.

I have referenced clothing and objects that belonged to my mother and two grandmothers to express that we carry our beliefs and expectations from our foundations through to the objects that we possess. These beliefs stay with you like an imprint, overlaid on top of everything, our clothes, skin and bones.

Luci Callipari-Marcuzzo

April 2011

In Memoriam: queste scarpe  2012

Luci Callipari-Marcuzzo

Sentiment and memory are a common theme explored within my arts practice.

In Memoriam: queste scarpe incorporates the “good” shoes my maternal grandfather (Nonno) wore on his journey from Italy to Australia in 1951. The shoes symbolise a new beginning; to cross over the threshold and embark on a new life in a foreign land with so much promise.

The shoes have been recreated from paper and printing ink (a type of monoprint) in this installation, which also incorporates beads from a plant which grows in my mother’s garden, these beads were used to make rosary beads; and in this context fills the shoes with hope, belief and courage.

Follow my blog: Luciana goes bananas: imaginative ponderings on art, life, the universe and everything.    

Curriculum Vitae

Luci Callipari-Marcuzzo is an artist, arts administrator, mother and writer, whose arts practise explores notions of belief, faith, womanliness and spirituality.

Academic Record
2003 - 2004 Graduate Certificate In Museum Studies—Deakin University, Burwood campus (1st year)

2000 - 2001 Graduate Diploma in Arts & Entertainment Management - Deakin University, Burwood (1st year)

1993 - 1994 Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art (2nd & 3rd Years) - La Trobe University, Bendigo Campus

1992 Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art (1st Year) - La Trobe University, Mildura Campus

1991 Advanced Certificate of Art & Design (1st Year) - Sunraysia College of TAFE


SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2009 Credo: Beyond belief Stefano’s Gallery 25, 25 Deakin Ave, Mildura, Vic
White Stefano’s Gallery 25, 25 Deakin Ave, Mildura, Vic

2006 Red Mildura Arts Centre Regional Gallery

2005 les femmes Rouges Gallery 25, 25 Deakin Avenue, Mildura, Vic

2003 ...with a little help… Friends of Mildura Arts Centre fundraising exhibition, Mildura Arts Centre Regional Gallery

2002 Parallel Lives State Centre for Modern Art, Ekaterinburg branch, Russia

2000 Mildura Palimpsest #4 Aurora Packing Shed, Red Cliffs, Victoria

AWARDS

2000 Mildura Rural City Council Service Excellence Award for outstanding coordination of Mildura Palimpsest #4

COLLECTIONS

Private collections

PUBLICATIONS

2002 – current Mallee Bull Newsletter, Mildura Arts Centre, editor

2005 Mildura Palimpsest No 5 by Stephen Naylor, Stefano de Pieri, Marg Naylor, Luci Callipari-Marcuzzo. Softcover, Mildura Arts Centre, ISBN 095816262X (0-9581626-2-X)

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

2007 Adelaide Bank Festival of the Arts Critics Masterclass for Young & Emerging Writers: The Artists’ Week Critics’ Masterclass provided an opportunity for participants to work with and learn from established writers and critics on methods for discussing contemporary art and developing a critical voice, and focused on reviews and critical writing plus writing for catalogues and publications. Masterclass facilitators were Reuben Keehan, Phip Murray & Dr Linda Marie Walker.

2004 EveN: recent work in various media by women artists with strong links to Sunraysia: Co-curator with Donata Carrazza. Artists included: Jill Antonie, Lindy Bartholomew (Allen), Antonia Chaffey, Alison Clouston, Annabelle Collett, Filomena Coppola, Kate Cotching, Bonita Ely, Belinda Fox, Robyn Gibson, Christine Lovie-Henty, Jill Orr and Jai Smith.

2001 Curatorial Lab, Gertrude contemporary art spaces. A series of seminars and workshops for emerging curators conducted by leading Australian curators. The program culminated in a masterclass with Juliana Engberg.