Who is Malisa?
A very difficult question. Malisa is an accomplished woman, mother of two daughters and with a husband and a very happy and fulfilling life. But that would not describe who I am but the current point of my journey. Malisarts, on the other hand, is the part of me that goes back in time, digs into, and sculpts scars and wounds, problems, difficulties that I have faced in life and that have allowed me to arrive at today being the Malisa described at the beginning. Through my expressive side I can keep my everyday life calm, metabolising, analysing and unravelling what I have gone through and what still hurts me today but which, thanks to sculpture, is channelled into my works.
What is the message you want to send through your works?
The seemingly simple message has deep roots. The connection is with the Japanese art of Kintsugi. What is broken is not wrong or to be thrown away: put back together in the right way, it will give even more value to what is broken (in kintsugi everything that breaks is repaired with soldering in pure gold ed). It is precisely the splits that are at the center of my works: lacerations that symbolize physical or mental or spiritual scars, everything that makes us suffer, that does not let us see the light beyond the darkness. Instead, with energy and willpower we are able not only to see the light but to be light, energy that improves our lives and makes us stronger. If we did not have ‘scars’ we would not have lived. It does not matter how many we have but how many we have overcome. From there comes our wisdom and awareness
Where do you see yourself in five years?
I must say that by my personal nature I cannot make such long-term plans. I hope to have the same determination as now and to have even more healed scars because it would mean that I have grown personally and professionally. Obviously on an artistic level I hope that what I do resonates with the soul of those who see it. I think that more than aesthetically it is a question of harmony between the viewer and the work.
What does ‘Made in Italy’ mean to you?
Made in Italy is a brand that is synonymous with quality, ingenuity, something to be proud of. I sincerely hope with my works to do justice to Made in Italy in my exhibitions abroad.
