In preda ad un’allucinazione. Dream Mode. Between the Sky and Earth in Siquijor, Viviana Riccelli’s latest exhibit explores unconscious depths that form figures and eventually transforms into a spatial picture, observing different divisions of lines and shapes coupled with tonal colors that imbibe the mood of the image. It invites the viewer to glimpse through an angle, a window of a perhaps temporal scene of a place and of longing for it. This describes perfectly the current ordeal of some people in the world nowadays, a desire to settle yet always moving, a desire to move yet always settling. Her affinity with the vortex is a majestic portrayal of mystery and whirlwind adventure, foregrounding her present locality of Siquijor, a mystical island center of the Philippines. The vortex entangles you into its deepest center, fanning over different colors and expressions and completely envelopes the viewers into its imagery and illusion.
Viviana Riccelli on Living in Siquijor, Philippines
I arrived in Siquijor after a very long time, after an attentive search, after many years of travelling and after asking myself where is the place I would like to spend the rest of my life.
All the world was open to me, and I was thinking about directions….. West, South, North, but then came to my mind the kindness and the generosity of the Filipinos which I know in Italy and whom I met around the world in my lifetime journey. The people of the Philippines, the wilderness of its forest, the beauty of its nature, the mystery of its sea, the curiosity about its culture and traditions piqued my interest!
Eventually, the Philippines became the choice! I knew then that the Philippines would become a place of inspiration to my art and has become my much beloved home.
The following step was to understand where in the Philippines. More then seven thousand islands, very different people, and rich cultures, Manila in the Philippines is so similar to Rome for the ferment of humanity living there, for the cultural dynamism and attention for cultural heritage. But, at that point, a sort of blind instinct drove me to the Visayas and then straight to Siquijor.
When I first arrived in Siquijor and I was approaching its coast, its colors touched my heart: green, blue, turquoise, red and yellow like the hot sun. I felt immediately that this was my place.
In Siquijor, as in Dumaguete, in Manila, in Iloilo, in Bacolod, and all the other places I have been, I have developed very strong and valuable friendships.
The deep fascination with the places I discover, visit and live in, never stops.
If I am sad or worrying about something, I just go out in the streets to have a walk and see how welcoming is the people I meet, how positive they always are, no matter how difficult their lives.
I have learned the wisdom of the sea from the fishermen and from the healers of the mountains.
The visions and diary of this journey treads troughs into my art work.
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
