Il Giardiniere | Bowerbird

Tumbleweed – Valentina Monari and Rebecca Sforzani 

2019 | Bologna (Italy)
site-specific installation
branches, natural elements, candles, letterpress printing
225×200 cm

Second-hand plastic structure, self-made recycled paper with pandemic newspapers, lyocell wire, ink on paper.
In collaboration with Sartoria Sociale Ecopoetica.

The Bowerbird is a specimen from Australia and New Guinea which builds a bower for courting and then it decorates the structure with colorful gifts before performing in a dance. The installation, created and selected for InsOrti (site-specific performative art festival), represents this courting structure.
The words I’m sorry, forgive me, thanks and I love you, installed for the duration of InsOrti festival, constituted a mantra for Mother Earth: this poetic tunnel led to a nest placed among the plants, recalling the courting game.

It is part of the project I shouldn’t be here, which recreates birds’ nests and bower, placing them out of their original context. The aim is to show the animals displacement from their native land and focus on the problems connected with climate change, a phenomenon that, among its multiple catastrophic effects, is forcing animals to move. The project currently consists of other two installations: Oropendola and Thick-billed Weaver.

Pctures by Roberto Melotti