“Body art performance, mute, naked, raw, which investigates the metamorphosis of an individual, locked in the case of his own suffering, narrated through the process of moulting of the reptilian world”: this is how the Sara Lisanti, performer and artist from Salerno defines one of his latest creatures, “MUTA-MORFOSI”.
“MUTA-MORFOSI” is a performance where the artist leverages change and the concept of abandonment which, necessarily, is linked to the passage from one phase of one's life to another, to the change of one's being, a growth which also means leaving behind what one has been up until the moment of the “mutamorfosi”.
"This show was born in an instant. But like the instant -I suppose- in which one gives birth: a life of managing certain passions/urges—emotions, and a moment to expel them. The most burning passion is undoubtedly that of remaining faithful to oneself, to oneself, I mean, and this is something that requires a great deal of clarity and—some would say—courage. I only require clarity. There comes a time when one time demands a change for another. Then it's time to shed one skin to inhabit another, with all the costs of abandonment. But it's a tax we must pay if we want to die better than we were born. I've already called it "a debt to our essence."
Within the performance, Sara inserts elements taken from the world of reptiles, the moult that leads them to change skin, here used as a metaphor for a process that is not natural as it happens in nature for these animals, but is a thought out and desired process, born from a clear awareness that leads to a consequent act of personal revolution.
"So, with a cramped habitat and skin to shed, I couldn't help but draw on the reptile world, which I've known up close, raising various species. And so I can tell you that shedding is a necessary stage of growth, independent of willpower, like age. Change, however, doesn't happen simply through the passing of time: it follows the structure of suffering-I acknowledge it-I change. It seems like child's play, but instead it's the work of giants of their own pain. So MOLTING-MORPHOS is a portmanteau of the reptile world's shedding, the necessary skin change when we grow, and metamorphosis, the necessary transformation when we want to evolve. Before shedding, we are locked in the terrarium of our own suffering. A cage, but an incubator. Staying, but going. Changing, but shedding our skin. All very... checkered. And yet very natural. Therefore, clarity is needed."
However, personal and solitary awareness is not enough: this is why, after the initial personal effort, another figure necessarily appears on the scene.
"Then on stage there is the arrival of someone else's hand that helps in a phase of the transformation process: we never save ourselves alone but, however much an external subject helps us, we too are served, so that our own work becomes our own work, in a reciprocal sense."
A conceptual performance that changes from date to date, where theatre meets performance art, artistic installations and circus art, other disciplines that influence Sara Lisanti's work.
""MUTA-MORFOSI"" was born with a promise already in its title: to mutate through repetitions, promising a show that is always -a little- different from the last time, just like we all are, thus maintaining the real aspect to which my performance is deeply anchored. When space allows, one phase of the "mutamorphosis" takes place on the aerial trapeze. Also on stage is an installation of mine, as well as my alter ego, grown and mutated. I won't say what!"
“MUTA-MORFOSI” has been performed in theatres and galleries in Turin (among many Lavanderia a Vapore in Collegno, Teatro Cafè Muller, Spazio44, Interspazio etc), Bologna (Teatro del Barracano), Rome (Teatro dei Contrari, Teatro il T), Salerno (small theatre of the Giullare), Milan.
The next events are at the Milan Off Fringe Festival (from September 28th to October 1st at the Imbonati Art Hub 11 theatre), at the Catania Fringe (from October 19th to 22nd), Salerno (La Mennola theatre, on December 17th) and Rome (Teatro dei Contrari, January 27th-28th).
In addition to “MUTA-MORFOSI”, Sara will be busy as a visual artist with installation works during the Turin art week at PARATISSIMA TORINO from October 31st to November 5th and, again, with an unprecedented performance at THE OTHERS ART FAIR, also in Turin, from November 2nd to 5th.
