Artists

Elisa Giardina Papa

Press release

She Flickered In and Out of History is a new video and mixed-media installation by interdisciplinary artist Elisa Giardina Papa (b. Medicina, Italy; lives and works in New York, U.S., and Sant’Ignazio, Sicily). In 1831, an underwater volcanic eruption gave rise to a new landform between Tunisia and Sicily, sparking a violent sovereignty dispute among European powers. Six months later, the island vanished beneath the surface. She Flickered In and Out of History explores the geological, mythological and political temporalities of the Mediterranean through the historical and speculative story of this island that refused to be annexed. The video is presented on a large, free-standing LED screen, alongside a series of sculptures and photographs. A poem, spoken in Sicilian and set to an original score by New York-based composer duendita, threads through the visual narrative, weaving together historical records with reflections on decolonial and queer temporalities. The poem, composed by Megan Fernandes from Giardina Papa's film script and archival research, lyrically deliberates on the island's eruptive emergence and subsequent refusal. Sculptures in hand-shaped glass and cotisso, a raw, unstable glass traditionally destined for remelting in Murano furnaces, materialise a key aspect of the narrative. In deep, saturated hues, they embody the last stanza of the poem, which draws on historical observations of the altered colour of the sun following the 1831 underwater eruption. Caused by the release of volcanic particles and sulphur aerosols into the atmosphere, observers from the Mediterranean to the Middle East and the Caribbean reported seeing blue, purple, and green suns.