"In due siamo pari" (In two, we are equal) evokes the idea of duality and the search for a harmonious balance between two polarities. The meeting point between these polarities is a constant negotiation, a reconfiguration of bodies, modules, and organisms that compose an ecosystem of sculptural elements scattered throughout the gallery.
This ecosystem is body, skin, and armor; it's a network of organs and organisms; it's a flow of vital energies; it's a hybrid, relational, and vulnerable space. As you walk through the gallery, the rules and principles that define the movements and forms of this network of relationships are revealed: the idea of resilience and stability in replication—which ensures species continuity and functional redundancy—and the principle of modularity, which organizes ecosystems into semi-autonomous units capable of compensating for losses or variations. This is similar to what happens in organisms, where elements function as interconnected units, ensuring strength, adaptability, and interconnection.
The modularities contain the finiteness of bodies and punctuate the visual rhythms of the sculptures. By observing this almost geometric rhythm, one can identify the principles of opposition and harmonization, division and recomposition of systemic organicism.
The relationships between these interdependent elements, in Maria Positano’s work, revolve around the concept of the body as an individual organism that exchanges energy with its environment, and as a collective organism, through its ability to relate to space. It is at this point of contact that the analogy with armor emerges. A recurring element in the artist's practice, armor is understood not just as a passive protection, but as a system that protects while also mediating with its context, communicating and adapting.
The solidity of the shell sometimes reveals greater vulnerability, taking on the guise of a permeable second skin. Depending on the piece, the materials (velvets, fabrics, and papier-mâché textures) become capable of filtering, perceiving, and amplifying sensations, no longer acting as a barrier, but as a living, adaptive interface that connects the body to the surrounding world. The rib cage, the coccyx, the spine—sometimes recognizable—make way for the sensitive dimension of the body, an emotional form that weaves together memory, identity, and gender in contact with the other.
