Portfolio

Bhakti - The Spirit of Devotion

Luisa Marianni's interest is in the sacred music of India, in singing and chanting, particularly of the Sri Lalita Sahasranama Stotram, in praise of the Divine Mother. The artist has depicted the disciples of Her Holiness -Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi. They sing in Malayalam: "Grant that our minds be expansive, O Goddess, so that we may tread on the path of love. Let us give up our selfishness and heal the wounds of others."

All proceeds from the sales of the work will go to "Embracing the World".- a global network of charitable projects conceived by Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi.

Intimate Play

The force field of spirit that is jazz music helps the creative flow and inspires poetry and painting. The give and take of both audience and performer is nourishing ground for collaboration.

Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul
- Plato

"This music recalls the remotest memory,
in the furthest emotions in the far corners of my soul's geography,
in the deepest underground cavern
where an undiscovered species lives called 'the embryonic' "

Venice, Rumi and the Architecture of the Soul

"When I think of a word to replace music I can only think of Venice" - Nietzsche

This exhibition was held as part of the Parliament of the World's Religions in Melbourne in 2009. All proceeds from the sales of the works go to the Alola Foundation, who support the welfare of the women and children of East Timor.

The artist wishes to thank Coleman Barks for permission to use his translations of Rumi's poetry.

Alola - Supporting the welfare of the women and children of East Timor.

Part of the Parliament of the World's Religions in Melbourne in 2009

"Visiting Venice on a sojourn in 2007 Marianni was struck by the cities wealth of religious paintings. Seeing past the specifically Christian gestures got her thinking about the spiritual state - 'a language of faith and beauty' - inherent in all artistic creation, and to the life of Afgan born poet and Sufi mystic Rumi"

Dylan Rainforth, The Age, 4th January 2010

"Rumi clearly instructs the creation of each work. Both the dervishes and the lovers make powerful play, enacting the acceptance of the bodily and the spiritual. I also like the conversational figures, such a familiar part of the city. The combination of Christian and Islamic imagery works well and invites interpretation. I like the size and simplicity of the works. Luisa Marianni has an eye for the contours and multilevels of Venice, which I suppose is part of the message she transmits throughout: the body and the spirit need each other and cannot live apart from one another. Ultimately there is a need for equilibrium in the joining of opposites."

Philip Harvey, poetry editor, Eureka Street

★★★★★

★★★★★

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