Canadian artist Sveva Caetani was born in Rome in 191 7 and emigrated to Canada in
192 1 with her parents, Leone Caetani and Ofelia Fabiani. The family settled in Vernon,
B.C. where Caetani was to remain until her death in 1994. Between the years of 1975
and 1992, Caetani produced a series of 56 watercolour paintings entitled Recapitulation
that recounts the story of her life. Drawing on Dante's Divine Comedy as a model for
the overarching format of the series, Caetani adopts the role of a pilgrim on a spiritual
journey. Just as Dante called on Virgil to act as his guide, Caetani calls on her father to
accompany her on her personal journey. By establishing a voice that bears witness to the
tragic circumstances of her life, Sveva Caetani reconnects with her past in order to alter
the shape of memory. The evidence Caetani offers is her own life and the country of her
imagination; the extraordinary life of a woman and the separate life as a writerlartist.
She draws us into personal memory and family history, weaving autobiography into
analysis.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/798 |
Date | 10 April 2008 |
Creators | Avery, Karen Rose. |
Contributors | Tumasonis, Elizabeth. |
Source Sets | University of Victoria |
Detected Language | English |
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