Serretta
Ketophyllum
While researching for an exhibition about our relationship to moonlight and things that bloom in the dark, Abbott discovered an image of a Ketophyllum fossil in the book The Moon – From Inner Worlds to Outer Space (edited by the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art). These ancient corals date back 420–443 million years, to a time when the Earth rotated faster on its axis and as a result, a year lasted 420 days. Drawn to the crinoline layers and lines of the Ketophyllum’s form, Abbott wondered if the difference in the Earth’s rhythms affected that of the tides, and, in turn, the coral’s form. Using stoneware and the process of coiling, the artist explored and interpreted the intricate strata that give the coral specimen its shape. Abbott invites the viewer to reflect upon the many fragmented pieces of time, place, history, knowledge and past lives of the natural world, some of which surely dwell deeply buried in the most ancient parts of our consciousness, and pull them back up to the surface, where they may become a part of the way we see the world around us.
Marta Abbott (Amsterdam, 1983) is a Czech-American artist living and working in Rome. Her multidisciplinary practice spans paper, canvas, ceramics, photography, and video, exploring the connections between the organic, metamorphic, and transience through a layered visual language. The display of her works becomes an opportunity to activate connections, open narratives, to welcome, and to disorient.