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April 25 - May 2, 2004 |
A Grieving Light
Canadian artist Anna Aguzzi at the Joseph D. Carrier Gallery
By Jennifer Febbraro
Originally Published: 2004-04-04
At 72 years old, Anna Aguzzi possesses the newborn enthusiasm of a novice artist just discovering the possibilities of oil, despite the fact that she has practiced painting for most of her life. Her moment of critical reinvention was the ironic gift of tragedy, which led her down a painful road of self-discovery and, as Aguzzi expresses with conviction - kept her out of the loony bin.
She was the average Italian housewife, living with her physician husband of 23 years, never having worked. The year was 1980 and within five weeks of learning of his cancer, her husband died under her care, by her side. Aguzzi describes the shock of his death: "I almost died with him. After he died I laid in his bed, in the same place where he died and tried to fish out my life - I hit the bottom and had to make clarity inside me".
Rather than running to the psychiatrist's couch or simply giving up, Aguzzi was determined to render her grief through some medium of expression. Previously, she had always looked to her art as a hobby, but now it would become a lifeline out of the deep depression she had fallen into. Like her brother, founder of Books in Canada and renowned poet Pier Giorgio DiCicco, Aguzzi wrote verses to herself, never with the intention of sharing them with anyone. The same was true of her painting - all creative efforts never reached the shore of an appreciative public. In an Emily Dickenson-ish manner, she never needed them too.
What was instigated by her husband's passing was the need to be seen and the cathartic release which would happen through making her "darkness visible". Aguzzi describes her artistic passage from 1980 forward as a journey from darkness into light. This month's show at the Joseph D. Carrier Art Gallery occurs some 24 years after her husband's death, and showcases the dramatic progression of an artist who has reinvented herself - an inspiring feat considering she walked the path of misery alone and had depended on companionship most of her adult life.
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