Through the Labyrinth of Marina Calamai

A Journey Through the Senses

By Allyson Volpe

A conversation with intrepid creative Marina Calamai, who is both artist, artisan and jeweller, leads you down a path filled with fresh perceptions, designs diagrams for her latest projects, historical research and contemporary flair.  She is the ripple effect in motion as her curiosity is an endless energetic tonic that both powers and implements her art.  Although her primal inspiration is usually to be found within nature and the ecological world, Marina has also been deeply influenced by the master Florentine artisans whose workshops were a daily feature of her childhood in Santo Spirito, the Oltrano district famous for its hand-crafted artisan tradition dating back to Renaissance times.

In 2018, you created your very successful Apologia installation at the Museo Novecento in Florence which was your homage to the Florentine artisans.  Can you go into more detail?

I created this not only as a celebration of the famous artisan heritage that has existed in Florence and Tuscany for the last 500 years, but also to raise awareness and appreciation for the hand-made work of today’s masters:  silversmiths, jewellery designers, wood carvers, stone workers.  Sadly, we know that their work has been drastically reduced these last few decades, and with the aftermath of this pandemic, I fear for their survival.  If the artisans meet their demise, then a deep part of Florence and Tuscany will die with it.

Apologia incorporated the sounds of artisan workshops to create a complete music installation and I collaborated with professional dancers who specially choreographed movements to colour the visuals.  To take the experience further, I included a sampling of scents to awaken the olfactory experience within the audience.  

In 2019 you gave birth to your Labyrinth of the Heart.  Can you expound upon the project and its significance?

For me, nature is fundamental beauty and we are all deeply inter-connected with the eco-system. Unfortunately, as we all know, humans are spoiling our planet.  I have been reading the writings of author Timothy Morton who speaks about these enormous world events such as global warming and pandemics, which he refers to as hyper-objects.  When we think about the immensity of these types of hyper-objects, our minds nor our hearts have the capacity to grasp them independently.  We need to go deeper.

 It is for this reason that Labyrinth of the Heart was birthed.  On my land in the countryside, I have designed and plotted my own labyrinth in the shape of a heart.  The walls of the maze were formed with a systematic planting hundreds of laurel hedges.  This fully immersive experience is my dedication to nature and to encourage people to move “inwards” to ponder their inter-connectedness with the environment.  It involves going into the maze and finding the best part of ourselves as we go into a deeper reflective state.  Within, there are different parts of the labyrinth that I have designed that I hope will augment a pensive state where we connect with these different universal ecological themes on a deeper more connected level.   

 In the middle of the labyrinth, for example, I have planted certain scented plants, the aroma of which is supposed to induce much clearer thinking.  The laurel plant itself yields an aroma for our overall balance, but I took it further to include aromatic plants with other properties that help align us with the better part of ourselves, internally.  The second part of the labyrinth is the area located in the tip of the heart, and then there are another two within each side of the heart.

 In time, it is my hope to open this experience up to the public for an appointment-based viewing.

Can you give more detail about the spiral that is so often seen in your work? 

I love nature and I love beauty.  The sacred geometry of nature is deeply inspiring.  The spiral is one such design.  When we as humans connect with the beauty of nature and to its sacred geometry, we somehow return to a balance within ourselves and connect with the best part of ourselves.

I am inspired by the golden ratio of the Fibonacci numbers --[named after Italian mathematician Leonardo of Pisa, known as Fibonacci in 1202].  They help us to understand how the pattern of beauty is so prevalent and present in the biological settings of nature.  The numbers can be found in the branching of trees, the arrangement of leaves on a stem, the structure of pinecones.  It signifies of the pattern of beauty.  Take a pineapple for example, its fabulous design has a perfect pattern that inspired me – I then go on to create from this. 

For you, how does the outside viewer fit into the equation of your art?

I have always loved interacting with people and immersing them into my world.  Through my installations especially, I tend to like to challenge them to use their other senses beyond sight.  For me, sound is an important emotive element, as well as scent.  Through these channels of sense-perception, the person becomes part of the experience and ultimately a part of my art.

You seem to want to awaken people.  Do you feel that the purpose of art is for this reason?

I put a lot of expectation on myself only.  I hope as an artist, I am affecting people in a hopefully more positive way.  For me, art is a form of education to encourage people to become more ethical, more connected.  As a result of the world events of the pandemic and isolation, it seems we are more sensitive now to what happens to others.  Communication seems different now.  We have a new appreciation for the environment and animals now.

Ethics is missing today in the sense that we need to look beyond ourselves and look to the good of the community; not only looking towards what is good for ourselves, but toward the collective good.  Moving out of our individualism towards responsibility for our collective communities, the environment and also for the welfare of its animal life.  Our domestic animals especially have been helpful during the crisis as they are an example of un-conditional and generous love.  My Vitruvian Dog installation in December of 2019, played homage to this.

We have spoken of this New Renaissance energy that has been occurring in Florence these last few years, whereby the ideals of humanism and of the natural world are applied to our lives. Does your idea of a more ethical mindset speak to this?

All together, we need to make a huge shift on our planet.  This will only occur if we live in a more ethical manner of which I spoke.  Because of this recent social distancing, we have all had a lack of human contact, and our need to communicate and connect has been renewed.  It is like a new type of hug where we are re-appraising and appreciating things again. On a symbolic level, this is a moment that we can embrace the needed changes.

This renewed appreciation can spur us on to think in a different way, to have a different attitude and appreciation.  To desire beauty in our homes and community, in our country and on our planet is where we begin.  This is a ripple effect.

There is no doubt that growing up in Florence and in Tuscany has deeply affected the way I perceive beauty and nature.  The fabulous art surrounds us on the streets and in the museums, as well as the silhouettes of the Tuscan hills surrounding Florence, all speak of that beauty.  What we have built architecturally with our hands is a direct reflection of the designs of nature.  It is inter-linked.

How do you see yourself as a Lady Rippler?

I love interacting and rippling with other people and other artists, discussing shared ideas and coming up with something new.  For me, I think that creative communities need to come together and gather forces as we move forward collectively.  This is a powerful ripple effect.  We need to continue the dialogue.