Question of plots. The subversive elements and motifs of the marvelous tale in the art of Maria Lai
Abstract
The article examines, through a multidisciplinary approach that combines contemporary art history with folklore studies, the presence of fairy tale tropes in the artistic production of Maria Lai (Ulassai, 1919 – Cardedu, 2013).
Critics have always emphasized the crucial role of narration and its symbolic connection to weaving in the artist's poetics. The polymaterial sculptures and the Stitched Books adopt the abstract communicative style of the marvelous tale; the Geographies, created with embroidered fabric, highlight the invisible connections between the particular and the universal and recall the one-dimensionality of the fairy tale; the Stitched Fairy Tales draw from Sardinian legends and convey metaphors about art and life. The fairy tale is flexible, has a social function, and a subversive nature. In contemporary art, the marvelous tale, provocatively reworked through retellings, has become a tool for female empowerment. Maria Lai was never a political artist, but the semiotic universe she built through fairy tale motifs, the reuse of traditional techniques, and the research developed in conceptual and relational art fields allowed her to create a space for self-expression.
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Sitografia
Fondazione Maria Lai.
https://fondazionemarialai.it/
Fondazione Mirella Bentivoglio
https://mirellabentivoglio.it/
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