Nea Lindgrén
I Was Fucked Here / Walls of Pompeii
1.6. – 19.6.2011
Galleria Huuto Uudenmaankatu
Inscriptions of love
On my first trip to Naples a few years ago, I ran into the inscriptions on the walls of Pompeii, the ancient city destroyed by a volcanic eruption. These ancient – sometimes sensitively poetic, sensual and gentle, sometimes disrespectful and mocking – graffiti about love, sex and sexuality fascinated me, not only because of its age / as a code language of an ancient civilization but also because of its directness and openness.
On the ancient walls, one can read about the journey through human culture and the power of time and examine messages and signs – codes and meanings of how this civilization, whose mentality is so different, yet so similar to ours, has found and experienced love.
The walls of Pompeii contain numerous inscriptions about love and sex – painted, engraved and written in charcoal. By examining these various manifestations of sexuality and love, quirks and impulses that are part of the essence of human nature, it may be possible to revive the meaning of a world that managed to merge emotions into flesh, a world that did not need mental veils to cover the different nuances of humanity, the various nuances that colored the idea of love in society that did not recognize guilt or sexual norms, unlike today. It was a civilization that people of today could only categorize as sexually free or morally dissolute.
The project is supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation.
Nea Lindgren
http://www.nealindgren.info
tel. +358 41 5489854
nealindgren(at)hotmail.com
