"Generoso Family" is the new street art piece by Yuri Catania, designed to explore the theme of biodiversity on Monte Generoso. It depicts a rich variety of wild animals and plants in relation to humans, symbolized by an astronaut tenderly embracing a stuffed bear.
The artist aims to provoke reflection on humanity’s relationship with nature. Although humans are a part of nature, they are becoming increasingly distanced from it due to technology. Rather than protecting the environment they live in, people choose to embrace a teddy bear, thinking it offers more comfort, but in reality, it’s just a surrogate for nature. This act holds a deeper provocation: despite being surrounded by a wonderful, vibrant natural world filled with unique animals, wild plants, and flowers, humans prefer the stuffed animal, likely because it offers them more control.
The artwork, an impressive 12 meters tall and 12 meters wide, is presented as a giant postcard of Monte Generoso with its snow-capped peak, an image captured by the artist during the winter season. Snow-covered landscapes are becoming rarer due to global warming, which is causing significant climate changes, even in our regions. The piece also includes representations of the vegetation of Val Mara, dominated by trees and forests such as chestnuts and maples, alongside non-native species like palm trees, which now coexist, creating a surreal environment and a false sense of biodiversity, caused by human intervention.
Catania continues by depicting all the animals that inhabit Monte Generoso today, including mammals like wild boars, foxes, deer, goats, hedgehogs, moles, and field mice, as well as the wolf, recently sighted in the area. Birds, such as the golden eagle, and reptiles like the asp viper, salamander, and toads, are also represented. The entire ecosystem is conceived as a kind of grand Noah’s Ark, with humans at its center. The artwork is further enriched by a wide variety of native flowers, such as the wild peony of Generoso, along with other flowers like crocuses and orchids in shades of lilac, violet, and fuchsia.
The message of the piece is to highlight the beautiful territory we live in and its inhabitants, encouraging greater respect and awareness of the fortune we have been given, and emphasizing the need to responsibly protect the natural cycle of biodiversity, which is an essential value of life.
From September 5 to 12, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, people are invited to dedicate an hour of time to contribute to the creation of the mural at Via Trivelli 11 in Rovio.
Join the artist in cutting and pasting activities and become an active part of a work that celebrates biodiversity and the wonderful territory of Monte Generoso.
To register, send an email to: hello@casagalleria.art or via WhatsApp: +41 79 137 31 11.
Official inauguration of the artwork:
Friday, September 13, 2024, at 6:00 PMVia Trivelli 11, Rovio
The mural is sponsored by Banca Raiffeisen Basso Ceresio and supported by Comune di Val Mara and Mendrisiotto Turismo.