MARE VERTICALE. 2025.

In November 2025, I was invited by Rodolphe Parente to inaugurate the 91017 artist residency program on the island of Pantelleria. Over the course of four weeks, I explored the island’s paths. Pantelleria is a volcanic island situated between Sicily and the African coast.

Although surrounded by the sea, the island has historically looked inward. Its steep, volcanic coastline has long made access difficult, directing inhabitants toward the agricultural interior. The landscape is structured by an extensive network of terraces built with volcanic stones, organizing the mountains like patient architecture.

Through landscapes, drawings, and still-life compositions — combining objects washed ashore by the sea, volcanic stones, and the island’s vegetation — Mare Verticale unfolds as an attentive walk. The project examines how the island has built itself by protecting against the sea, while carrying its presence everywhere. In the objects deposited on the shore, and in the island’s very geology, the ancient lava flows create fluid forms that seem to extend the movements of the water. Among terraces, stones, and frozen flows, the sea appears as a force that runs through the landscape — a sea turned vertical.