The Angel: A Journey into Self-Consciousness through Art and Poetry is an extraordinary artistic exhibition that recently graced the Primaticcio Gallery, Dante Alighieri Cultural Society in Rome. The exhibition was brought to life by the remarkable talents of Melanie Francesca, an artist and writer, often compared to an all-female James Joyce, hailing from Dubai. This captivating exhibition intertwines Melanie’s poetic expressions with her enchanting drawings, creating an immersive experience that invites visitors on an intimate journey of self-discovery. Maria Rita Parsi, a renowned Italian psychologist, praises Melanie’s ability to capture the profound essence that lies both within and beyond things.
THE BOX TOOK THE BREADTH AWAY
At the heart of the exhibition stands The Box, an awe-inspiring installation that weaves classical mythology with contemporary insight. The monumental artwork, weighing 400 kilos and measuring three by three meters, is the brainchild of Melanie and operates under the patronage of the former Minister of Culture and now Minister of Tolerance in the United Arab Emirates. “The Box” is a poetic tribute to various artworks, creating an enchanting atmosphere reminiscent of a mini-Sistine Chapel.
MELANIE FRANCESCA A BRIDGE BETWEEN CULTURES
Drawings and writings are combined in Melanie’s innovative artwork, which pushes the limits of
creative expression and demonstrates her prowess as an artist. Her singular
method casts images from the past into an apocalyptic, post-new age future,
bringing spectators into a world in which ancient myths and contemporary dreams
converge.
OPENING THE DOORS OF SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS WITH THE ANGEL
The Angel, Melanie Francesca’s novel recently published in English by Europe Editions, unfolds its enchanting tale against the backdrop of Paris in the early 2000s. The narrative follows the journey of an angel, Alan, who unexpectedly falls in love with Dixi, a fragile girl working as a model. Dixi, raised without parental guidance despite her wealthy French background, becomes entangled in toxic relationships orchestrated by a gypsy. Alan, the ethereal spirit, accompanies her every step, revealing himself in the churches where Dixi seeks solace.
Through the pages of The Angel, readers explore the intricacies of human emotions and suffering, delving into wounds from the past that influence our choices and shape our life trajectories. Melanie’s prose delves into the causes of toxic addictions, emotionally included, urging readers towards a healthier, more fulfilling life. The novel has received praise from Corriere della Sera, describing it as an intimate story embracing complexity and glamour. Dixi’s journey, intertwined with legends and dreams, opens doors to spiritual exploration and self-awareness. Melanie Francesca’s ability to weave art, poetry, and storytelling into a mesmerizing experience encourages readers to delve into their souls’ depths and find healing, hope, and transformation.
ACHIEVEMENTS LIKE NO OTHER
Melanie Francesca’s artistic and literary achievements have garnered admiration from prominent figures such as Vittorio Sgarbi, Stefano Zecchi, and Barbara Alberti. As a lifestyle journalist, writer, artist, television, and radio personality, Melanie has exhibited her artwork in prestigious locations worldwide, from Paris and Milan to Moscow and Art Dubai. Her creativity and diverse talents have impressed audiences and critics alike, solidifying her position as an influential force in the artistic world.
The Angel weaves art, poetry, and storytelling into a captivating journey of self-consciousness, urging readers to explore the invisible world beyond the ordinary. Melanie Francesca’s unique blend of creativity and spirituality inspires the embrace of love, healing, and self-awareness.
MORE TO COME FOR THE ENIGMATIC MELANIE FRANCESCA
The exhibition The Box and the novel The Angel stand as a testament to the transformative power of artistic expression and its profound influence on our lives. As visitors walk through the Primaticcio Gallery, they are captivated by the enthralling fusion of art and poetry, while readers are carried away by the enchanting narrative, both experiencing the magic that lies within Melanie Francesca’s remarkable works.
Below are some selected questions and Melanie Francesca’s enlightening answers.
Yours is a story of abandonment, betrayal, and healing. Do you find yourself in this triple register?
The story of betrayal is narrated through the life of Dixi, who recalls situations in which she is continually abandoned because of the initial wound of abandonment. Healing happens when we decide to break this chain of repetitions and errors, but it is a decision that must come from the heart, not from the head. Wanting something doesn’t mean getting it. We have to go through a radical transformation of being and only go through the heart.
What inspired this story for you?
I often went to the Pére Lachaise cemetery or Gothic cathedrals, forests of stone steeped in history. They stay in my flesh like a song. Even the modeling, the bohemian life, the contact with a daily rawness that seemed like a house without walls, where the cold wind of poverty always seemed to bite your heart. Yet what comes out in the pages isn’t me; it’s something else, something truer than the truth that I express on my own. We are instruments of voices greater than us that speak through us. We are the voices of angels.
In your book, the angel talks about the door of awareness at one point. A door today too often closed, sealed?
The awareness I speak of is the feeling that ‘I am.’ When you say I am and take a deep breath, the past and future disappear, and you find yourself in the now. By entering the now, by acting in the now, you change the world and yourself. The mind kidnaps us and makes us live in yesterday and tomorrow by conditioning us. You see who you are when you enter the now, the I am.
How do you imagine your guardian angel?
I can’t imagine it with my own eyes. I feel it. He has an intense vibration that mainly grips my right shoulder and runs all over my body like a kind of shiver. Very strong physically, felt like he could touch me.
But does this spirit exist or not?
The eighteenth-century spirit that narrates the story speaks with ancient words, calls spirituality esotericism, and defines the obsessions, or thought forms, as real beings called larvae. In his afterlife, feelings are therefore concrete, like thoughts, and the fairy tale takes shape. But I have to tell you that to make me feel its presence, the spirit brushes my shoulders, filling me with shivers even if it’s hot: it’s his way of smiling. In the book, the spirit communicates with Dixi only in churches or in front of the beauty of a picture, where she begins to rise to joy: that is the door to the other world and through a crack of hope, he can make his whisper heard, through an open heart he can flow into us. We are faced with the mystery of existence, as the angel Alan says: «Love illuminates everything, it elevates spirits and humans to that energy level where matter loses its consistency and evaporates, and the walls between worlds fall down. We and you, spirits and humans, in love, are visible to each other, the shadows swept away by the light we emanate, with no matter in between. Without even pain, since this is only the absence of light and love”.
To conclude: why should anyone buy your book? What do we tell the public?
Because it’s a beautiful novel that explains, in the form of a story, the spiritual principles that shape our reality and allow us to change for the better. One doesn’t even realize he’s changing; he does it while he reads. Because the story guides the inner transformation with feeling, there is nothing to understand with the mind since the mind lies. The mind is limited, the heart can do anything instead, and only by opening the heart we transform our lives. We need to enter the terrain of sentiment, pain, poetry, and a language that does not go into concepts. We need to stop thinking about what is good or bad, about how to change things rationally. The truth cannot be reached with reason.
This novel is a modern fairy tale that takes you by the hand like a child and transforms, as in ancient alchemy, the lead of heavy feelings into the gold of awareness.
Would you like a movie to be made out of it? If so, how should it be?
It should look like Jim Morrison as a break in the mold, as a bearer of division, of confusion. The novel has dark, rock, and metallic tones. It sounds like the scream of a rock star transposed into a book.
To learn more about Melanie Francesca, visit: https://www.melaniefrancesca.com
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