LILIANA BARBIERI
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In Parallel 2022


Habitat 2022 – Butterfly Project
Museo Italiano August/September
 
I continue to make art in my studio, but over the protracted period of COVID-19, I became obsessed by the beauty and transformative power of one of nature’s most amazing creatures, the butterfly. Being unable to access my studio during lockdowns, I scaled down my work to fit on a kitchen table and happily spent hours creating great swarms of delicate hand painted, hand cut butterflies that flutter in the tiniest breeze.
 
Conceptually, the butterfly presents a perfect metaphor for freedom, fragility, strength, and metamorphosis - and just like people and ideas, butterflies have the ability to migrate across many boundaries towards a common goal.
 
My dream today is that human societies will embrace a paradigm shift in thinking and that - just like the butterfly, planet earth may experience a positive transformation.
 
I hope to continue gaining unexpected insights and making art well into the future.

Picture

Picture
Made to Measure #43
mixed media assemblage
43x43cm framed
Picture
Made to Measure #42
mixed media assemblage
43x43cm framed
Picture
Made to Measure #41
mixed media assemblage
43x43cm framed
Picture
Made to Measure #40
mixed media assemblage
43x43cm framed
Picture
Made to Measure #44
mixed media assemblage
43x43cm framed
Picture
Made to Measure #46
mixed media assemblage
43x43cm framed
Picture
Made to Measure #48
mixed media assemblage
43x43cm framed
Picture
Made to Measure #45
mixed media assemblage
43x43cm framed
Picture
Made to Measure #47
mixed media assemblage
43x43cm framed
Picture
Made to Measure #49
mixed media assemblage
43x43cm framed

‘Made to Measure’  a series of designs
 
Italian Design, woven into the fabric of life, can reveal histories and connect past, present and future.
 
Many of my childhood memories of family life in suburban Melbourne center on the sewing room table. Mother’s sewing room contained a large trunk overflowing with   fabric remnants, silks, beads, ribbons and embroidery thread that suggested endless potential for transformation. An intoxicating profusion of contrasting colours and textures, of bold patterns and stripes created a visual poetry that intrigued and captured my imagination at an early age.
 
In Italian culture, the idea of the Bella Figura - to make a good impression, or present oneself in a good light – is of paramount importance.  Special occasions require just the right fashion item, which is usually ‘made to measure’.
 
A talented seamstress, my mother, would gather her ‘clan’ of collaborators to discuss ideas and obsess over minute details. Elements of line, shape, colour and form were high on the agenda.
 
Successful design depended on careful selection of just the right weight of fabric - to drape and fall fluidly, enhancing every curve. The initial design was carefully drafted from tissue paper to ensure a perfect fit.
 
The simple hand woven linen transported all the way from Italy in my mother’s trunk was discarded in favour of sumptuous velvets, silks, wools, satins and precious laces. Cherished fabrics were further transformed by time-honoured embellishments such as pleating, folding, fusing, embroidery and the most prized skill - hand painting.
 
A myriad of such personal memories influence this work’s creation, fusing the tangibility of matter with the insubstantiality of memory.
 
Melbourne 2022

Picture
Made to Measure 
exhibition view
CO.AS.IT, Museo Italiano, Carlton

Picture
Made to Measure 
exhibition view
CO.AS.IT, Museo Italiano, Carlton

Picture
Habitat 2022
mixed media on double matt film
hand painted, hand cut

Parallel Visions In Parallel 2022

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Picture
Picture
At this Point   2022
exhibition view
Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn

Picture
At this Point   2022
exhibition view
Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn

Picture
Danza 1/2  2022
exhibition view
Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn


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Picture

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