Mixed Media on canvas, stretched and ready to hang.

Signed on the back.

Speechless (will Gaia turn us into a tree) is based and inspired by the smaller work Silenziosa.
Gaia mother of all life and Greek goddess of Earth as well as the Daphne myth in which she turns into a laurel tree and decides to stay silent were brought to my intention by some viewers which I am grateful for.

This large work began from a mixture of influences and impressions I cumulated during our six months stay in Italy in 2022. The landscape, the Cartasia biennale, the old poetry books I found on the antique markets, the beautiful color of the olive trees, the colorful fields in spring and at the same time my feelings and confrontation with the environment and climate change which is effecting Italy a lot has had a great effect on my work as always. We hadn’t had any rain of significance till the last couple of days of our stay in Terracina an incredible little town on the west coast. It has been a terrible drought for Italy with wild extremes as everywhere in the world. Are we going to take real action or stay silent and just hope for the best. Are we kidding ourselves and should we laugh at ourselves as we look what has been done to bring change about. The goddess of the earth might turn us into a tree if we keep going the way we do now and postponing real action and keep desecrating our beloved Earth.

I used recycled teabag wrappers from organic teas I drank in Italy and pages from old Italian poetry books I bought at the local antique markets for collage, besides a mixture of acrylic paints, pens and pencils.