Marzia Banci, Infinity
Necklace, 2023, sterling silver, 750 gold, hemp yarn, w 34 cm × l 41 cm
The necklace is made up of a thin, shiny laminated silver plate that sinuously wraps itself around the female body. It symbolises the curved infinity of the Marche hills which afford a glimpse of the sea.
This is how infinity lives on in the artist's soul, extremely welcoming, embracing anyone and everything all around, it is open to modifications, changes position and shape, and modifies the light that makes it visible.
The silver plate is shiny because the horizon is visible only when flooded with light. Gold paths engraved with words of experience are sewn with hemp yarn onto the plate. Women have sewn together generations of families with hemp yarn.
The yarns are umbilical cords of love and struggle of this Marche Mother Earth.
Marzia Banci, Finds from my homes
Brooch, 2022, sterling silver, 750 gold, brick, cabochon-cut fire opal, l 12 cm, h 4 cm
The brooch is made up of an engraved gold plate on which three brick fragments are attached. The fragments come from the homes where the artist has lived. The spaces separated by the fragments are filled by two warm-coloured fire opals, behind which we can make out the words engraved on the plate: on the left, ‘finds of’ dedicated to the artist’s family of origin, up to the past generations (the surname Banci has Germanic origins and was first recorded in Italy in the 1200s). On the right, ‘my homes’ dedicated to her present family, which includes both her close family members and the people with whom she shares her daily life.
The jewel is part of a composition of finds belonging to the artist’s former homes which no longer survive: fragments of coloured tiles, shards of a water jug, and feathers of a peacock belonging to her father.
They are all arranged to form the perimeter of an ideal home which treasures her most precious memories. Thus, her finds live in an infinite space-time.
