Bird in Flight Prize ‘21 Finalist: Oyster

Мarco Marzocchi, Italy

Made over the course of 10 years, ‘Oyster’ is a visual diary compiled by Marzocchi as clues to understand his absent parents. At times bordering on frustration and violence, his images express his search for a ‘culprit’, a cause for his dysfunctional childhood environment. Using archival and original imagery, the artist ransacks the past to build a presence in a process of forgiving and letting go, as a quest to find love and healing.

Marzocchi had reevaluate his whole family history from the point of view of an adult. And close a circle. Like an Ouroboros.“This work represents my experience in recovering and understanding my parents, their life and their relationship with me. I never knew them well because they split when I was 6 years old, and they both died young. Drugs, addictions, jail and dysfunctional environment, these were constant elements. This work is focused on dealing with and replacing all the doubts and fears that I had. Exorcising the pain and searching for love”.