Alice Sartori

Artist Catalogue

Virtual Exhibition

‘Impasta’ Syndrome

My project focuses on the fragility of memory and the idea of grief and longing.

At the very start of my first year at Michaelis, my father had unfortunately passed in an accident. This traumatic experience has since followed me throughout my years of studying. I had finally made the decision to dedicate my fourth year to create this body of work about my loss, not only in honour of his memory but also as a therapeutic initiation of sorts; to commence the healing process, which I had hesitated to start for so long. 

My art is an exploration of my grief; the loss of the nostalgia of my happy family memories and the disconnection between my identity in relation to my father.

My father was Italian and his death meant that I had not only lost my father but also, I lost the connection to the part of myself connected to him; to his language, to his family, to his culture and to his history.

My exhibition consists of a series of painted images imprinted onto the surface of home-made sheets of pasta. These images are specially chosen from the collection of images given to me by my family and from my own personal archives. All the images are in connection to my father and Italy; captured memories and moments from the family farm and from the time spent with my family and father. Through the medium of pasta, these memories are brought out from their respective archives and introduced again to the outside world, but through my own perspective, the perspective of an observer of one’s own history.

These pasta prints are presented on wooden boards and plates, with the pasta awaiting an audience. In my mind; if the presentation conveys a convincing performance of the ‘awaiting’ pasta, ready to be cooked and served, then it gives the illusion that it will be consumed. Through that process of this consumption, the more Italian I become in the audience’s eyes; the more authority and confidence in my personal identity I can derive from my association and the more secure the connection between my past and my present will become. However, this pasta cannot be consumed, so the connection is superficial.

In my opinion, the first act of grieving and dealing with loss is to acknowledge it.  Rather than this final exhibition to be an all-encompassing finalised and fulfilled conclusion to my feelings and my journey of loss, I see it as the first segment of many towards a journey of healing.

Alice Sartori

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