The cycle of prints presented here arises from the reading of the letters of Pliny the Younger, unique testimonies of the eruption of 79 AD, they express the suggestions received, the bewilderment and terror experienced by the population in those moments, describing them in a symbolic key, metaphors of the decadence of contemporary society.
Isolated excerpts of the letters become creative material for new images, new narratives, it is the historical memory of past events that are brought to light and updated.
The volcano, an impending and threatening presence, arises as a symbol of destruction but at the same time of purification and catharsis, an expression of nature that destroys everything and then again creates and regenerates the existing.
The techniques used, etching and aquatint, allow to best emphasize the destructive energy of the natural element, the muscular tension of the bodies, the drama of the action through the creation of contrasts and clear signs.
The figures are often hidden by a dense mesh of overlapping signs that represent the typical phenomena of the eruption such as the rains of ash and lapilli described by Pliny but at the same time, they bring the images closer to the faded and eroded frescoes from the time of Pompeii.
