Apartheid, Homage to Nelson Mandela, 2014
cm 76x76x270(h)
Lamp, lampada
Legno rovere e laccato lucido bianco
Ash oak wood and white polished varnished wood

Apartheid, Homage to Nelson Mandela, 2016
cm 100x100x450(h)
Lamp, lampada
Legno rovere e laccato lucido bianco
Ash oak wood and white polished varnished wood

Apartheid – omaggio a Nelson Mandela è una lampada ottenuta a partire da una grande catena lignea che, spezzata in più punti, da simbolo dell’oppressione diviene fonte di luce e metafora di libertà. Apartheid ripercorre proprio come una linea del tempo la lotta di Mandela: le fasi di libertà/speranza si risolvono nell’uso del bianco o del rovere, e nell’apertura e chiusura degli anelli. Apartheid si erge maestosa e verticale nello spazio, pare cadere dal cielo: il nero degli anelli porta con sé immagini di oppressione, lutti, avversità. Improvvisamente, un anello si apre a simbolo dell’inizio della lotta del leader africano. Qui, il legno laccato lucido predomina sul rovere cenere. Combattimenti, violenze; Mandela viene arrestato: la catena diviene nuovamente nera. Solo nell’ultimo tratto con la fine dell’apartheid e la sua liberazione la catena si spezza e si fa opera luminosa.

Apartheid – homage to Nelson Mandela is a lamp made of a high woodenchain which gets broken in several parts. The chain, once the symbol for oppression,
stands here as a source of light and works as a metaphor for freedom. Apartheid is a kind of time line recalling all the steps in Mandela’s long fight for freedom in his country. The highs and lows in his fight are here represented by the white oak wood and by the opening and closing of the rings. The work of art stretches high in space, majestic and vertical, as if it was falling from the sky. The oak black chain rings are about oppression and reminders of the long way in the fight against apartheid; all of a sudden a white ring opens. That’s when Mandela started to fight for his country’s rights. Here the polished varnished wood prevails over ash oak. Fighting, violence. Madela gets arrested. The chain gets black again. Only in its last bit, with the end of apartheid and Mandela’s freedom, the chain gets eventually broken and the work of art turns to light.

Valentina and Riccardo Sartori for InDuo