Elisa Sighicelli: As Above, So Below

Ephemeral photo-works in conversation with a museum’s off-display sculptures

Italian photographer and video artist Elisa Sighicelli (born 1968) was invited by the Gallery of Modern Art, Milan (GAM) to curate an exhibition in dialogue with the gallery’s repository containing over 800 sculptural objects: a population of plasters, bronzes, marbles, waxes, mutilated bodies and languid female figures that, unbeknownst to the museum visitors, inhabit the basement waiting for a location on the upper floors. Through a series of photographs, Sighicelli reveals surprising formal relationships and silent dialogues in casual juxtapositions: a statue that whispers in the ear of another, a sidelong glance that seems to cross the eyes of a companion, a close contact that suggests a love encounter. Elements such as dust, inventory tags and bubble wrap become crucial nodes of a spontaneous script activated by the artist’s gaze on the sculptures.