On 2012 August 14 as every year since 2003 I took part in the traditional Chalk Art competition in Grazie di Curtatone (Mantova, Italy).
Born in 1972, this was the first ‘Italian’ International Street Painting Competition. Every summer this event hosts many street painters and they work one very close to the other during the night too. It is part of a festival celebrating the Assumption and artists (called ‘madonnari’) are asked to create ephemeral drawings on asphalt. They have to paint religious subjects with chalk in 24 hours straight on, watched by an audience of up to 200,000 curious spectators.
My piece – “Nel suo destino la Resurrezione” (In his destiny the Resurrection) – was about 250 x 280 cm.
People were very interested about the peacock. I inserted the bird in the embrace between Mary and Jesus cause I wanted to suggest the ancient relation between the peacock and the death and resurrection of Christ as in a prefiguration of the future life of the baby. The mother is sad cause she is conscious of that destiny. The baby seems to be a little frightened by the big bird.
The peacock is a symbol of immortality because the ancients believed that the peacock had flesh that did not decay after death. As such, early Christian paintings and mosaics use peacock imagery.
At the end I got the Rotary’s Price in Masterclass category.
In the pictures you can see some moments of the work in progress of my piece!
