Butoh dance: Kea Tonetti
live music: Tivitavi
duration time: 45’ or 30’ (shorter version)
Mothersea is the mother of all forms of water, bringing life and death and whose nature is benevolent and terrifying at the same time. Altered by human hands, enveloped and engulfed by plastic, she takes on the form of shapeless mermaids, sea monsters, mythological jellyfish, and the suffering of so many innocent lives that die; a symbol of human attachments, fears, and sorrows. A metaphor for the fall from the gods, where man is increasingly separated from the magnificence of Nature, which in the end always wins because it is eternal. And humans? Perhaps they can only be saved by returning to prayer, offering songs and rituals, and respecting the Mothersea.
“Mothersea, you who flow through my spine
and give me life,
I honor you, I respect you, and pray to you,
Ease the suffering, pain and ignorance….
Oh great Goddess, whose face is benevolent and terrific,
May I humbly worship your magnificence,
Accept your gifts and offer you a dance”
Kea Tonetti
The performance was staged on the occasion of the installation “The plastic side of the sea” curated by Sarah Mancino at the Straf Hotel in Milan in 2013.
Photos by Marica Moretti