Overview
This Project is made up of a group of images representing the 7 deadly sins. Every sin is represented by drops of water on a smooth surface. The drops in their composition always create different suggestions and depending on how they are distributed they are associated with a different movement of the human soul. As Goethe wrote in his famous poem “Song of the spirits over waters” (Gesang der Geister über den Wassern), water is among the earthly elements the one which can the most resemble the human soul. Like water, the soul adapts to the objects it encounters on its path, it is shaped by the space that surrounds it, but its real nature never changes. For the Greek philosopher Thales, water is the principle of movement in all things and especially in the soul of man.
SLOT
A single drop, whose surface is not perfectly smooth, but rippled on one side represents the slot. A slothful soul has no willpower. There is no longer a desire to do anything, neither for good nor for bad. The main characteristic of this sin is therefore stasis, the lack of movement. This drop is firm, lying in a state of immobility. The ripples hint at an attempt to change this condition, but the lack of willpower prevents it from going further. This drop as well as the slothful soul cannot move in any direction.
PRIDE
Pride arises from the depths of the human soul and starts from the constant need for recognition. The creation of one’s own identity, unique and better than others is the goal of every human being. In this image we see the water dividing into two groups of drops, one on the right and one on the left. The two compositions face each other almost hostile, in a chest to chest aimed at self-affirmation. The composition of the drops is very similar, with a larger drop in the center and smaller ones swirling around it. The superb soul is a soul that constantly wants to prove its superiority, true or presumed, and is fundamental for its existence.
LUST
Lust is the disordered desire for sexual pleasure which is placed in the first place since the only goal is personal satisfaction.
As the highest expression of selfishness, the pursuit of pleasure is the sign of curiosity, of an uncontrollable urge to try, to taste, to feel, to transgress prohibitions, and take a bite of the forbidden fruit. Water once again shapes itself to absorb what it wants to incorporate. a central drop is the fulcrum of desire, perfectly round and smooth, nothing more attractive. On its sides other drops, half-moons, they press in the intention of approaching. they change their shape moved by desire. Nevertheless, they never touch.
Like greed, a lustful soul wants to have more than is allowed, it derives pleasure from control and possession. One thus becomes a slave to one’s sexual impulses, justifying to oneself every search and way of satisfying the pleasures of the flesh and losing his identity.
ENVY
Envy is defined as sadness for the good of others perceived as one’s evil.
The envious person, therefore, feels resentment and hatred for the happiness, prosperity, and well-being of others, whether he considers himself unfairly excluded from these goods or, already possessing them, demands their exclusive enjoyment.
Unlike other sins, envy does not lead to any pleasure but is linked to an insecurity of the soul, which is in constant need of recognition. The drops of water here represent the closure of the soul towards the outside. Anything that might come close is considered a danger. Their shape is aimed at protecting what they possess and in doing so they create a distance with what they could enrich themselves with.
Picture arouses contradictory feelings: on the one hand, the concave shape welcomes and protects in a maternal, positive way, on the other, the convex one symbolizes hostility and rejection. What he has is not enough, he wants more, but the hostility towards others prevents any improvement.
GLUTTONY
The sin of gluttony was considered the most fearful of the deadly sins because it was irrepressible, born out of an ungovernable bodily need and the image of a soul subject to the body and therefore damned.
Gluttony is total greed, the insatiability not only of food as the term would suggest, but it works on both physical and spiritual levels.
In this picture, the drop of water expands, it exits from what was initially its margin as if it were intended to swallow everything. The tension of the water perfectly represents the tension of the soul.
GREED
This image is composed of many drops of water, small and scattered on the surface. In the foreground, a larger, concave, moon-shaped drop embraces the smaller ones as if to control and possess them.
The desire to possess is the main characteristic of avarice. The miser desires more and more things and wants to fill his life through them. The miser’s soul, however, will never find peace, and the things he possesses will end up possessing him and not vice versa. Thus, this drop expresses this attitude of the soul, which trying to possess, ends up bending and changing its shape, without benefiting from it.
WRATH
Anger is a feeling that becomes sin when uncontrolled. it is the most explosive and destructive feeling and is almost always generated by something external. The violence of the angry soul is expressed here by scattered, confused drops. a composition where the water breaks down, losing its unity. When the soul feels anger it loses its balance and breaks showing all its most intimate weaknesses. In this image, we see the moment suffered after the outbreak of anger when the violent gesture has been made and nothing remains but shatters.
