Virginia Villari, «Matter and Memory Exhibition Project»

Virginia Villari _Independent curator
«Matter and Memory:» Exhibition Project (Ennagon Gallery, NYC)

Matilde’s research focuses on time, specifically on the experienced time as opposed to the time of the clock, which normally defines our daily lives. In fact, Matilde’s pictures capture moments in time and expand them by freezing them. By this way the artist reproduces the subjective perception of time that, according to a certain situation, might increase or shorten a single moment, making that moment, and therefore the image, the signifier of the consciousness’ stream. Matilde seeks to give an impression of duration, that is the time perceived by the inner self; in doing so, she invites the viewers to pay attention to things that are usually overlooked, to suspend their judgement and look carefully. As a consequence, Matilde’s work makes us realize that often things are not what they seem.
The exhibition presents a selection of works chosen from two series: “Immaginari interiori” (Inner Imaginaries) and “Del Tempo” (About Time). Even if such works are part of the same discourse on time, which they address under different angles, the exhibition seeks to connect them on a different ground, that is the perturbating side of the ordinary. In fact, the magic of Matilde’s photographs lies particularly in their ability to unveil the weirdness of everyday interiors, objects and scenarios. Her shots uncover the narratives hidden in such venues; things start telling stories, the ones of the people who actually lived in or passed by these environments as well as those of the viewer, who is invited to switch on the imagination and draw him/her self into the pictures. The images that will be on view are taken both inside and outside. So the display seeks to create an aesthetic path that goes from the home to the city’s suburbia, suggesting a trip in which the external world and the inner reality, matter and memory, are intertwined. The time of the clock overlaps the subjective time producing a sort of parallel universe of suspended time, where such suspension means revelation. Matilde frames places and isolates them as moments of deep significance, turning them into icons of mystery. Her works remind us of the enigmatic nature of our world, where nothing should be taken for granted, because it changes, and we are influent agencies of such change. Matilde’s photographs aim to render the “normal” extraordinary, to raise questions and switch on the interest in the world around us, which she presents as a fascinating source of visions and things to discover and investigate.