ITALY - DANIELA NOVELLO

The work presented by Daniela Novello is an installation of jerrycans sculpted in stone which, especially for their near life size, could easily be mistaken for real ones.
Disconcertingly set on a landing stage near the boat docks, the 4 cans lying on the quay create the first impression of a kind of heap. The aim is to create an ambiguous intention: through the symbolic energy of the jerrycan, on one hand it expresses the sensation of transmitting an idea of a store or reserve, on the other the desire to indicate yet another untidy dump with its typical bulky urban waste.
The jerrycan has a strong symbolic value as it may contain water or petrol, two fundamental resources for human survival today: in that sense, this simple object brings us back to the problems linked with the strongly felt theme of natural energy sources.
With a similar jerrycan made of marble, Daniela Novello won the San Fedele Prize, where she fully succeeded in giving the work the symbolic meaning and value that she intended to achieve.

Text by Saverio Simi de Burgis