Italian Ex Voto
Produced circa 1871
Unknown artist, likely from Catania
Oil on hardwood
Inscribed in Italian ‘By miracle,Vito Munzone is saved, 21 October 1871’ (bottom)
This ex-voto was purchased in Argentina circa 2005. What is significant about the piece is its brutality; Vito Munzone’s leg is pictured under the wheel of a mill, as blood spurts everywhere. In votive painting, the juxtaposition of violence and divine intervention creates a space which is neither in the domain of The Sacred, nor in the domain of The Profane; what is instead created is a “neutral ground” of sorts, which serves as a point of interaction between God and men. This object reminds me of my family’s history, as part of my mother’s family briefly moved from Italy to South America in the 19th century to work.