Since its origins, Venice has had its double in the water element in which it reflects itself, giving back to the viewer another mutable, impalpable, unattainable image of himself because it is always different, elusive, constantly dissolving. Impermanence is a term that in Buddhism defines the transitory and momentary nature of every phenomenal existence. The opposite of permanent, eternal. Venice is a fragile city, eternal and impermanent at the same time, at least in the perception of those who live it, those who were born there and see it constantly changing. It is a vibrant city like the fluctuation of the waters that surround it and return its mirage, but which, in addition to protecting it, have always threatened it, making it fear its catastrophic disappearance. Water symbolizes the alternating motions of emotion, quiet and storm, all that escapes the rationality of thought. Water sends us back the reflection of reality, softly molds what is rigid and angular, modifies shapes and creates new ones, shows us something that, perhaps, is only within us. In the water we can see the strangest things, our fears, our nightmares, our memories, our dreams. In my visions Venice is the impermanent city; not a real city in the strict sense, but an illusory, dreamlike space; it is a city of the soul, an expression of the unconscious and of ancestral memories. (2020)
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Mirella La Rosa
