Faculty of Art

Drawing and Painting

Isabella Nicastro

Sacrilegious

Ancient practices of superstition and the desire to possess amulets that offer spiritual and psychological protection have evolved into the corno or “devil horn” as is a common amulet associated with the malocchio in contemporary southern Italy. This charm or amulet is found in numerous forms and iterations of all sizes and colours, though most typically associated with a bright red, gold, or silver. Contemporary iterations of these amulets can either be static trinkets displayed in a home or a wearable item such as jewellery or a keychain decoration that can be kept on a person’s physical body at all times, offering consistent spiritual protection. Exemplified in this painting is my own personal example of how this practice is upheld within my everyday life, a self-portrait detailing this adoption of semiotics. These charms worn on my personal necklace subtly signal to those around me what my belief systems are and what groups I openly identify/ associate with by wearing these charms. Placed next to a cross charm, this painting also demonstrates how Catholic rituals of prayer have integrated themselves into modern practices of warding off the malocchio, providing an often overlooked direct link to how Catholic practice was assimilated into ancient superstitious beliefs as a natural result of the Catholic church’s colonial influence.

“Inspired by a trip to my grandparents’ town of origin in the south of Italy, this body of work seeks to investigate the intersection between my southern Italian ancestral heritage and my upbringing in Canada. A fragmented sense of identity commonly found in second and third generation citizens is dissected through the lens of personal experience. Close-cropped, abnormal compositions juxtapose conventional European methods of oil painting, displacing the viewer from the entire context of the world in which they are immersed, echoing the manner in which I am disconnected from the complete context of my heritage. These works present covert emblems embedded throughout, inquiring how factors such as religion, superstition, and cultural practices have dispersed through my familial lineage by inviting the viewer to observe complexities surrounding spiritual beliefs and the intangible.”