Ostia Antica

This project was completed in June 2020 by Sarasota poet Teresa Carson and New Jersey sculptor/jeweler Anne Fischer. The poem stems from a recent book by Teresa titled “Visit to an Extinct City.”

Teresa’s statement: As a poet I’m interested in the multiplicity of meanings that exist on and beneath the surfaces of all stories—whether personal, political, cultural, mythical or historical. My poems can be likened to literary archaeological digs in which I excavate deeper and deeper, uncover layer after layer, until the emotional/symbolic bedrock is reached. 

Anne’s statement: With “ROMA-Ostia (270N19),” I have employed the inherent attributes of a chosen material, i.e. plaster, to help translate the essence of the poem. Plaster, unlike concrete (Pantheon, Rome) and bricks (Ostia Antica), is a fragile building material. As within Ostia Antica itself, these plaster works may be lost, broken or changed in the course of their further transformations/excavations over time. The plasters signal a Place, hovering, whichis inherently fragile, acknowledging that which may/may not be close at hand and which may escape us again… or simply disappear…