On occasion of Giovanni Ozzola’s first solo exhibition at the Galleria Continua in Beijing, the works are arranged to interact with the space and bystanders. An exhibition conceived as a sensory and cognitive experience, where the works, which comprise photographic images, objects and videos, emotionally captivate the viewer, who tends to identify with the message they transmit.
Each work in the exhibition tells the story of an inner journey, “Landscapes acquire a landscape through us. Hence, if I imagine them, I create them, if I create them, they exist; if they exist, I see them as I see the others. [...] where would I be if not inside myself and in the sort and kind of my sensations?" (F. Pessoa). Different temporal situations intersect continuously, transporting us from the past, to the present and the future, experiencing moments of exquisite spiritual tension.

The exhibition slowly reveals itself to the eyes of the observer. Through a half-open door, we pass from a state of intimacy and adaptation to the inborn darkness that fills us and is the perception of ourselves, thence to a state of pleasant curiosity and wonder, attracted and partly dazzled by an unknown reality that unfolds before our eyes in the form of bright and contrasting light.
Once we cross the threshold into the light, into new constellations, we are faced with an enormous map, ninety-eight bright golden panels, where the artist has engraved on copper numerous routes of seafarers of the past, using the century-old engraving technique. Undulating, bare paths wander across the immensity of the sea, devoid of geography, as if suspended in the mist and darkness. Navigators like Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Magellan, Zheng He, astronomers and geographers, driven by willpower, by their desire for knowledge and their own audacity, sailed towards “emptiness” facing their fears.
To acquire self-awareness, man needs to tackle fears and go towards the "unknown", to overcome fright driven by intuition. Self-awareness directs one’s self through archetypes, dreams and intuitions, and leads the individual to make mistakes with a purpose, thereby pushing the psyche towards individuation and self- realisation.
Hence, a fluid connection is created with a theme particularly dear to the artist: the "Shipwreck" or better: “Castaway”, a philosophical metaphor used to define the ultimate meaning of human existence (Karl Jaspers). The continuous unfolding of reality, as opposed to the human need to have fixed points of reference; in this sense, the shipwreck puts an end to human despair caused by being at the mercy of the instability that populates the world, and gives life to a renewed consciousness.
Each one of these trips is a headlong dash, representing a new beginning, a journey of change that slowly, path after path, losing one’s way time and again (we believe that most of these adventurers died on their journey), as it proceeds, influences collective consciousness and therefore the structure of the psyche of all mankind, which emerges from a shared culture, a common instinct and experience that render the substrate of the unconscious equal for all human beings.
«[...] to the ephemeral world of our consciousness they communicate an unknown psychic life, belonging to a distant past; they communicate the spirit of our unknown ancestors, their way of thinking and feeling, their way of experiencing life and the world, men and gods.» (Carl Gustav Jung)
- Text by Galleria Continua

*image (left)      
© Giovani Ozzola  
courtesy of Galleria Continua