Fallani Venezia | Sei ore la cala, sei ore la cresce – Simone Carraro

For one of their most recent collaborations, Fallani Venezia, a Venice-based artisanal screen print studio, worked with visual artist Simone Carroro on a series of two colour screen prints. Titled Sei ore la cala, sei ore la cresce (Six hours the fall, six hours the rise), the edition of 80 prints presents symbolic elements of popular maritime culture which can be traced back to the High Adriatic area.

Coastal populations, exposed daily to the unpredictable power of the sea, are deeply superstitious. Fishermen, after exhausting practical means, rely on symbols, legends, incantations, and proverbs passed down through generations. Nature assumes symbolic meanings: seagulls and poisonous fish are seen as the souls of shipwrecked sailors, waves and waterspouts are personified as infernal monsters dragging unlucky sailors into the abyss. In the port, the witch, akin to an ancient pagan priestess, jealously guards the secret formulas of signs and spells, while the moon, undisturbed, always influences the tides. Sei ore la cala, sei ore la cresce is inspired by these tales, depicting the symbolic elements of maritime popular culture.

The prints were produced in the heart of Venice with the assistance of Gianpaolo Fallani, the head of Fallani Venezia. The Studio keeps on printing on commission, by proposing workshops and residencies that invite artists to learn and experiment with the screen printing technique.