An installation of printed material: large-scale photographs and drawings made by Tracy & Edwin, with archival images that connect and highlight changes, harmonies and tensions between place, people and time.
Rock and Dust | Roccia e Polvere at ISBN Books + Gallery, Budapest (2022) takes as its source Tracy’s grandfather’s house and surrounding area in Italy’s Molise region. The work brings together photographic material and drawings made by Tracy & Edwin, with archival images that connect and highlight changes, harmonies and tensions between place, people and time. Tracy & Edwin are interested in the relationship between conflict, belonging and art.
The large-scale printed collages present elements of the ancient and extensive Apennine mountain terrain that holds a rich and complex history, embedded in the area’s architecture, customs, language, agricultural lands and forests. Located in the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise, this currently protected area of exceptional significance and beauty is sparsely populated across villages. Largely trilingual Italian-French-English, this is due to the large community of emigrants who continually move between European nations, stemming from economic migration dating from approx. 1850.
Contemporary citizens are attempting to reinvigorate their community in the face of significant changes to labour patterns, environmental and cultural crises. In Rock and Dust | Roccia e Polvere, Tracy & Edwin create work that reflects the past and present to imagine possible futures with foresight and care.
The printed collage Fat White Star (119 x 84 cm) celebrates Mario Lanza (1921-1958), the great American-Italian operatic tenor and actor whose family is from Collemacchia, the village in Italy where The Museum of Loss and Renewal‘s residency programmes take place. This work was produced in an edition of 5 copies and published by The Museum of Loss and Renewal.
Mario’s Father, Antonio Cocozza was born in Collemacchia in 1893. After the earthquake of 1984 the family home and surrounding houses were replaced with the building that is now home to The Museum of Loss and Renewal.
The annual Festival Mario Lanza celebrates opera and music and pays tribute to Mario’s short but productive life and his remarkable musical achievements, and takes place in the municipality of Filignano.
Photography: Julianna Nyíri