Open Studios: Muore l'ultima speranza (auto); La speranza e'ultima a morire (alt)

Image by Sidhant Bhagchandani, MMWMT

OhMI Media - comprised of Media Manager Who Missed the Train (MMWMT), the Flip, and OhMI herself - attended the Open Studios disguised as Camp Camera Crew (CCC). Their reality show is coming soon, with episodes on each artist's page and Youtube. This prized space, however, is reserved for one and only ours, Benevolent Dictatoress Claudia Cannizzaro.

Hers was the only studio not open that day. You thought her only concern was tight management of your tantrums and Omi well-being? Yes, but not exclusively - she also has a life, even at Omi, in the room with a view upstairs at Ledig, occupied by bookshelves, a writing desk, and a four-poster bed, a thought of which keeps many artists awake at night (in their own beds). Hers is a life of an artist. (OhMI was persuasively persistent to find out.)

Claudia's current projects stem from her previous practice of making time-consuming objects by hand, in the tradition of craftsmanship in painting, writing, and embroidery. These skills have long been intertwined in traditional arts, such as many forms of calligraphy. Calligraphic sign-objects - including rugs, books, and decorated garments - are frequently carried along on journeys for comfort, ritual, or exchange. They are bound to transcend borders. In transit, their signifience is kept and shared, such as her double-layered white muslin kerchiefs, each embroidered in colored thread with a personal "secret" - knots on the surface, stitches inside, the words revealed only against the light.

Personal secrets are similar to state secrets, in that they are both hidden in plain sight. Claudia's application for the USA citizenship initiated a personal working-through the state of America's symbols, such as the flag, bright colors of which have faded into black ink washes, with instructions on handling of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay stitched in-between the black and white stripes.

Objectification of language in symbols and laws also manifests in linguistic idioms, such as proverbs that offer readymade wisdom for every situation - yes, we did receive these whips of words in Italiano frequently at Omi! Claudia's proverbs are pin-pricked on cards and collected into a very large Rolodex which spans her office and her studio, writing and stitching, language and voice, and art and life at Omi.





The last one offered that day: La speranza e'ultima a morire/hope dies last/Muore l'ultima speranza/the last hope has died.

اخير يموت الأمل, Nisrine.


Francisco Goya, The Disasters of War, Plate #79: "Truth Has Died" (1863)

Francisco Goya, The Disasters of War, Plate #80: "Will She Live Again?" (1863)

Francisco Goya, The Disasters of War, Plate #82: "This Is the Truth" (1863)