Remanso dieci prospettive sulla Fiber Art all’ex Cartiera Latina-curated by Maria Constanza Villarreal & Vittorio Beltrami,
 Carolyn Angus, Marina Buening, Pasquale  Nero Galante, Anita Guerra, Roberto Mannino, Emanuela Mastria, Claudio Orlandi, Sahoko Takahashi, Olga Teksheva e Constanza Villarreal. 2022
Anita Guerra's installation:
Claudia Quinta 2022, Oil on canvas and linen embroidered on a wooden frame, six panels-
4( 40x 100x 4.5cm) and 2 (50x 100x4.5 cm)
 
Our exhibit takes place at the Ex-Cartiera Latina, a former paper mill fed by the once mighty river Almone. Currently, the waters have dried up and only a small stream remains. A sacred site for the Romans, in the 2nd century BC, according to popular myth,  Cybele, the Magna Mater, is called to Rome to help the Romans fight off Hannibal.  Her ship becomes mired in the mud where the Tiber and the Almone rivers meet. A young Roman maiden named Claudia Quinta comes to the rescue. Accused of being impure and a gossip, Claudia Quinta proves her innocence when, miraculously, she single-handedly dislodges the ship carrying Cybele from Pessinunte to Rome.
I was inspired by the role that these two valiant women played in liberating a city and how, only thus, were they able to redeem their reputations. These were no ordinary feats, as they required super-human powers and verve, a recurring theme required of women up to our present day.
I painted three different views of the river Almone, on site, at the Caffarella Park. Suspended in front of each painting, I have paired three identically-sized frames with embroidered images of the Goddess Cybele, of Attis, (her lover/son), and of Claudia Quinta. I chose to feature Claudia Quinta in the center panel, pulling Cybele’s ship out of the river with a rope. On the right panel, there is a stitched profile of the Goddess Cybele, and on the left side, are embroideries of violets, symbols of the rebirth of her husband, Attis, who takes his life when he discovers his identity.
The semi-transparent, white linen embroideries turn on a pin, and like windows, they sometimes reveal and sometimes hide the paintings of the river, interacting with the colorful water, woods, and flowers that grow along the banks. The past meets the present in this interactive installation where the public walks in front of and behind the works.  The frames sway with the breeze and change angles, showing at intervals the knotted underside of the embroideries, or the finished side of the sewn silhouettes.