Vittoria Di Stefano’s sculpture and installation practice is defined by a methodology of generative material experimentation. Throughout her career she has explored notions of liminality, transformation and desire, with a particular emphasis on the domestic space and intimate materiality.
Pears on a Willow continues this exploration. A site-specific sculptural installation for Linden New Art, it engages with the poetics of domestic spaces and their embedded histories. It takes as its departure point the Linden site itself: a family home originally built for Jewish immigrant Moritz Michaelis in the nineteenth century. Intertwined is the journey of the artist’s own Polish grandparents, who emigrated to Australia after the Second World War. While these two histories differ in circumstance and timeframe, their stories connect and overlap in their discussion of trauma, perseverance, survival and love.
Both are also characterised by gaps in story; many details have been lost through the passing of time, resulting in fissures in narrative and fragmented details. The various elements in the installation reflect the uncanny nature of this incomplete state, but they also aspire to healing, preservation and acceptance. The title of the work echoes that of the Polish expression ‘pears on a willow’, which refers to something desirable but impossible to obtain, reflecting the artist’s elusive desire to join the dots. This work explores the complexity of personal histories, the unreliable nature of memory, and the poetics of the in-between states that characterise our domestic spaces and lived realities.
Vittoria Di Stefano’s Pears on a Willow is one of the inaugural exhibitions as part of Linden’s JUNCTURE art prize. Launched in 2023, the prize supports two mid-career artists in the continued development of their practices and assists in realising new ambitious work.