In Search of Lost Objects

Focus areas

• Art and image
• Italian
• History
• Geography

Nari Ward is a globally acclaimed artist, celebrated for his innovative use of everyday materials, with which he creates layers of social and historical references. He explores the concepts of memory and transformation, bringing to life a wide range of found objects that have unique stories to tell. Ward explores history from various points of view, through its places, times and narratives, revealing the meanings and memories that are hidden in everyday objects and foods. He chooses glass bottles, shoelaces, strollers, signs, plane tree leaves and salted codfish for their narrative impact and for the connection they have with the places where he found them or that they came from. As he himself says: “These objects are filled with the desolation of other people’s existences, with the routines and rhythms of their lives. This inspired me and I started thinking about how to tell a story that wasn’t just my own.”

The children will explore the exhibition, starting with a tactile, playful exploration linked to the most important objects that appear in Nari Ward’s works. When they have recognised them, they will be asked to point them out in the exhibition space. They will be helped the arts tutors, who will guide them through the many stories that the artist tells through his works. At the end of the visit to the exhibition, the children will be encouraged to think up a series of stories linked to the past, present or future of each element they have discovered, thus creating new intersecting narratives: each object will thus come to life as something new, with an original story of its own.