This picture frame with a ripped outline of the Madonna and Child iconography was found in a small framer’s shop in my family’s home town of Gavardo, Italy. My only addition to this object was to start, but not complete, a series of mending stitches along one of the ripped seams. It is somewhat of a testament to a deeply personal journey of unravelling ties with a colonial foundation for religion and faith, in search of a more embodied faith. It is a journey I currently describe as ‘mending god the mother’.
Exhibited inside an interactive installation of a living room, viewers are invited to sit and spend time in this space, a space which has the same title as the stitched work it is born from. Mending God The Mother makes space for rest and reflection amidst the turmoil of unravelling a colonial blueprint for knowing, being, and, doing.
camilla pontiggia 