Golden Residencies, Welcome to España, 2016
Golden Residencies, Malta, 2016

This installation consists of mattresses, which the artist used as a canvas for embroidery and ballpoint pen drawings. Born in France, the Italian Giuseppe Stampone (b. 1974, Cluses) presents the mattress as a mini territory: a place where we can rest for a bit, a raft on which we can gather our strength. The link with refugees washed up on the external borders of Europe – a paradise for some, an impenetrable fortress for others – is easily established. Stampone invites the spectator to reflect on subjects like migration, war, human conflicts and eco-social themes.

La Zattera de la Medusa, 2017

n this work, Stampone displays the drowning people in Géricault’s painting next to images of refugees in the 21st-century trying to reach the Italian Lampedusa: this emphasizes the timeless significance of the work. It’s no coincidence that he portrays the refugees blindfolded, gagged: their vision and their voice is ignored.