La Festa dell'Equatore

A symbolic crossing that weaves together the celestial shift of the stars, the fragmented history of the artist’s Italo-Argentine family, and the therapeutic practice of family constellations.

Overview

La Festa dell’Equatore is a symbolic crossing that weaves together the celestial shift of the stars, the fragmented history of the artist’s Italo-Argentine family, and the therapeutic practice of family constellations to unfold a timeless dialogue between personal memory and the collective journey of migration.

An attempt to mend a piece of sky unfurling over an ocean of memories, the work is an initiatory journey. The title pays homage to a poignant rite of passage once held aboard steamships transporting migrants to South America. Crossing the Equator was a celebratory moment marking the approach of a new life, yet it was often followed by a profound silence, accompanied by eyes filled with tears and a mixture of hope and nostalgia.

That invisible line splitting our planet in two serves as the symbolic meeting point where these different paths intersect. Within this space, the narration unfolds through three deeply interconnected layers that mirror the migrant’s own disorientation and discovery. It begins with the celestial, observing how the vault of heaven shifts as one crosses the line, with stars appearing in patterns unfamiliar to the other hemisphere. This shift finds its grounded counterpart in the familial lineage of the artist’s husband’s family, a journey through fragmented memories and recovered legacies. Finally, these stories are brought into a psychological dimension through family constellations, a method that reveals how transgenerational patterns are etched into our lives – much like stars in the night sky – linking our ancestors' past to our present.

Here, memory and myth merge with reality, projecting us toward a future yet to be written while stars sing from the deep blue of eternity to the soul of the Ocean.

Adopting a transmedia narrative format, the work combines photography, video, audio recordings, found footage, and archival materials.

The Crossing Ceremony is a single-channel video installation that binds found footage of the Equator line-crossing rituals – both vintage and contemporary – with evocative imagery of "moving stars." The work invites viewers to embark on a voyage alongside King Neptune, the revered guardian of the oceans, as he prepares for the crossing of the Equator Line. As the narrative shifts into an introspective second act, it metaphorically depicts the challenges of the journey and the profound symbolism of traversing an invisible threshold, forever intertwined with the shifting patterns of the night sky.