Another Life

I was asked several years ago to participate in an exhibition in

Venice, Italy. The subject was glass and the artist had to use glass as

the main material. I was interested, but also hesitant, as glass can be

at times decorative and thoughtless. This of course never interested

me. I needed time to think about what I could do, if anything. I

needed to find a way to use the material that could fit into my lan-

guage, and hold true to what I do. Or why should I do it?

I had lived for several years in Venice at this time, and had spent

many a day and night walking the city. During one of these unhurried

walks I came upon several pozzo’s that started to arouse my interest

and curiosity.

Pozzos where once the center of daily life in Venice where the locals

would gather to fill bucket after bucket with water that would nourish

and sustain their families. Not only was this act of collecting the water

vital for daily life, but also so was the interaction with others. Imagine

the conversations and meetings that took place, and the stories and

ideas exchanged and carried away to nourish others later on. I

started to look at the pozzo as a dormant metaphor for Venice.

Over the years many have spoken of the decline of Venice, a once

vital city that has lost its meaning and place, and a city that has been

turned into a sleeping museum, a city of cheap souvenirs, hotels and

tourist. A city that holds no future for the youth that it raised.

My work for the last 25 years has been exploring the possibility that

ideas can have another life, that nothing is truly exhausted, and that

ideas can unfold in time in the hands of the artist or later in the hands

of another. and new meaning can form.

I wanted to give the pozzo another life, to awaken something that has

been sleeping and laying dormant for years. I wanted the pozzo to

have a purpose and meaning again and to stand as a symbol for

Venice. A Venice that could once again be vital and open to possibili-

ties. That art can be one these vehicles for possibilities that can

awaken Venice. Just like the pozzo, I wish for a Venice that is more

than a decoration.

Art has this unique possibility to nourish and feed and sustain life.

And I am not just talking about the art of the Biennale, the circus that

comes to town every two years in the early days of June and folds up

its tents and leaves in the damp grey days of November. I am talking

about the art of the everyday in Venice, the art in the galleries, muse-

ums, and the studios of artist and artisans that feed Venice and keep

it alive and connected to the bloodline and lifeline of culture in Venice

and beyond.

Once my decision was made to use the pozzo as a form to investi-

gate, I needed to find the right pozzo to reference. They’re where

many possibilities sitting on the stones around Venice, but they

where not right for what I wanted. I needed to find one that was hum-

ble, neglected and forgotten. I needed one that cried out for another

life, for another chance. I avoided the pozzo’s that took pride of place

and position in the city. This was of no interest to me.

On one of my many searches for a pozzo I came upon a photo-

graphic image of a pozzo in a book at the library in the Querini Stam-

palia in Venice. There it was, a wondrously humble pozzo located on

the island of Torcello. Not far from the Ponte del Diavolo and in the

shadow of the Church of Santa Fosca it sat for years abandoned, re-

tired from life, waiting for another life.

It was what I was searching for.

Lawrence Carroll

Boston, Mass

Woodstock, N.H.

2011