Tahar Ben Jelloun
In the circle of my life
Since Enzo Sciavolino has placed his outstanding sculpture In the circle of my life in the town square of Collegno, Piazzale della Memoria, the snow-covered mountains can listen to the voice of the marble; a voice made of silence where the wind blows. It is the wind that carries the artist’s message and lets him cross the skies and the plains to where trees are shaken by its words.
Some say that marble is a cold material. True. But once it has been carved, sculpted and transformed by the artist’s hands, it comes to life. This is the impression I got when I first saw Enzo Sciavolino’s sculpture.
That day, a cold wind was blowing along Strada Comunale di San Lorenzo, main road into the town of Collegno. I went straight up to the work and traced its every contour with my right hand. It made me feel as though it had been put there for a purpose, to give passers-by a bit of serenity, a quiet strength, a desire for life and peace.
Its height is impressive. A Greek face looking far away, a half-moon is its witness. As if time were looking upon us, unmoved, calm and majestic. We can’t go against time but we can accept it with calmness, simplicity and humbleness. We submit ourselves to time because we are all just passing through. But time remains, just like the monument that opens up wonderful perspectives made of great wisdom.
Artists often trouble us and make us feel uneasy. They criticize the ideas that have been transmitted to us and make us think differently. Enzo Sciavolino, on the contrary shakes our quiet thoughts subtlely, without fury or violence and it is in this way that the work overawes us, it’s power and strength show us how things really are: how true it is that all our arrogance, vanity and selfishness in life are ridiculous but then again, our life is inflicted with anxieties, fears and restlessness. But art is present, in front of us. It does not want to divert our attention or deceive us but to give a meaning to the path that our life takes.
To give something a sense does not mean that it is fully explained or justified. Giving something a meaning helps us to reach the light within us, what we call our soul, that watches over us till we draw our last breath. Enzo Sciavolino’s work helps us along this path. It shows us the way. It is up to us whether to follow it or carry on making a noise and pretend we are alive.
Seeing the sculpture made me feel like following the gaze of its face high up, that face that crosses the mountains and goes beyond time.
