Way of Stones
Whilst in lockdown, I fell in love with Pliny. I dreamt of meeting him on the beach at Stabiae.
Published in erbacce 2021.
Auden's In Praise of Limestone is one of my favourite poems. He wrote it whilst staying on Ischia. I lived for a year in Naples 1986-1987, the year Napoli won the championship with Maradona. Auden's poem resonates deeply with me. The photo is a coffin with the football teams that Napoli were playing inscribed on the plaques. The fans held a full funeral for the other teams.
I'd been thinking about the Cappella Sansevero and the veiled Christ. Downstairs, there are 'anatomical machines'. The woman had a foetus at her feet when we saw her years ago. It has since been stolen. It made me think about how we value and view things. I was fascinated by the relationship between the work of art upstairs and the female skeleton.
