Raffaela Mariniello’s natural and cultural landscapes, whether broad or narrow, dark or bright, are still those of yesteryear, and yet they are no longer here with us and never will be again.

Texts by Achille Bonito Oliva, Giovanni Fiorentino, Valeria Parrella

Once upon a time there was nature—woods and plains, seas and mountains, rivers and hills…

Once upon a time there was culture—histories and monuments, cities and villages, alleyways and squares…

Raffaela Mariniello’s natural and cultural landscapes, whether broad or narrow, dark or bright, are still those of yesteryear, and yet they are no longer here with us and never will be again. The people who inhabit such places have superimposed their modern idea of culture and nature upon them, encouraged by a market-driven culture and by the demands of the powers that be. Cars on the Dolomites, trees at the Colosseum, but also just a newsagent’s kiosk in the Vomero district of Naples, the excesses of modernity have conquered environments that were once harmonious or straightforward, whether in the city or in the countryside, where the presence of humanity has become viscous, tacky, invasive, asphyxiating, rather like some of its useless products. And yet, how happy everything seems to be in this garish, fatal viciousness!