Sébastien Arrighi

Marmo Amore

residence in collaboration with the Centre Méditerranéen de la Photographie

Location: Palazzo Guinigi, Via Guinigi, 29

Opening days and hours:
Monday – Thursday from 15:00 to 19:00
Friday – Sunday from 10:00 to 19:00

Winner of the cross-residency between Corsica and Italy, Sébastien travelled to Lucca for the Photolux photography festival. Sébastien had initially thought he’d set off to discover his origins in the small village where his grandmother was born, Sambuca Pistoiese. But once there, his discussions with Enrico Stefanelli rekindled his desire to explore the famous marble quarries. An initial immersion in the mountainous massif of the Apuan Alps was enough for the artist to decide to devote his entire stay there. From village to village, Sébastien collected testimonies from local residents, sculptors and former workers, before finally immersing himself in the breathtaking beauty of the days spent excavating white marble. He is fascinated by the ore and hunts it down from the peaks to the town of Lucca. He weaves an aesthetic and poetic bridge between his different photographs. The uninterrupted presence of marble, punctuated by the appearance of characters and other enigmatic scenes, nourish this universe. Sébastien plans to continue this work over time, in different seasons, in other spaces, always dealing with the multiple destinations of the dazzling white mineral. NB: The title is taken from the Latin translation of the word ‘marmo’ (in Latin: marmor) and becomes Marmo Amore, creating an ambivalent reading:
– In Italian: l’amore per il marmo
– In French: le marbre à mort

BIOGRAPHY
Sébastien Arrighi was born in Ajaccio in 1992. He graduated with honours from the École supérieure d’art d’Aix-en-Provence. He is the founder of the “Mascarone lab” visual arts festival in Bastelicaccia. In 2020, his work “Méditerranée Shivers” received support from the Centre National des Arts Plastiques for his first monograph, published in 2022 by Editions Poursuite (Arles).. In 2021, his solo exhibition ‘Era Ora’ was presented with the support of the Collectivité de Corse at La Compagnie (Marseille) during the 13th Festival du Printemps de l’Art Contemporain. The monograph includes, among others, his research on his home island ‘Ora’. In the context of BIENALSUR 2023, he participated in a joint residency with the FRAC Corsica and the Ministry of Culture of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh. ‘Desert Rose’ was exhibited at Fena Alawwal (Riyadh), MUNTREF (Buenos Aires) and Centre Una-Volta (Bastia). At the end of 2023, he travelled around the state of Texas in search of rodeo competitions, to delve into the imagery of the cowboy through his ‘Fall Off’ series. A few months later, his obsession with different island lifestyles took him to New Caledonia with the support of the PACA Regional Department of Cultural Affairs. In 2024, he won a joint residency with the Centre Méditerranéen de la Photographie and Photolux. The images of ‘Marble Love’, taken in the Apuan Alps, will be presented during the next edition of the photography festival in Lucca (Italy) and in Bastia. He is currently touring France to meet the sportsmen and women who are part of the 13 Art and Sport exhibitions at the GrandPalaisRmn, with a view to writing a new artist’s book. Recently, his ‘Ocean Rally’ project received support from the Centre National des Arts Plastiques for contemporary documentary photography and this unprecedented research project in New-Caledonia will start in 2025.