The title of this work, *Navigare* (“to navigate”), recalls the Latin *agere*, meaning “to move.” Action is movement: a force that directs us toward a destination. The image evokes a starry sky, where still points of light emerge above a sea of constantly flowing lines. In this suspended space, light and air reveal themselves through darkness. Light weaves its way between the ink strokes, surfacing and dissolving among the lines; within the blackness of the ink it vibrates and spreads, silently expanding its presence. For centuries, humans have navigated by orienting themselves through the stars and mathematics. The stars, fixed points in the sky, guided navigators across the vast surface of the sea. Yet without the human gaze—without the thought and mathematical knowledge that interpret them—those luminous points would remain simply motionless in the night sky. Observation thus becomes a meditative act. Thought and contemplation transform into the force that sets human action in motion. The gaze becomes a space of interiorization, a passage between the external world and the inner one. Dante’s verse, “and we emerged to see the stars again,” evokes the moment when Dante and Virgil, after passing through the darkness of Hell, are once more able to contemplate the sky, to regain perspective, to recover a human dimension. The stars thus become symbols of destiny and hope. In a time marked by uncertainty, the wish is that humanity may once again behold them, rediscover direction, and navigate toward a future of peace.
--
Biography
Gilda Convertino is an Apulian-born visual artist and licensed architect, currently based in Basel. Her artist practice encompasses landscape architecture with a focus in exploring the relationship between anthropic space and the natural environment. Her work in landscape representation using black ink patterns and gold leaf decorations is connected to the idea of observing, researching and translating thematic elements of the landscape and cityscape into a specific, visually sensitive image.
Her drawing activity offers interpretations of places with a style centered on the concepts of material, perspective, and geometry. She explores space through its individual elements and their materiality, expressed with various patterns. Drawing on memories or site visits, she enjoys creating images of specific places in cities and territories to narrate their changes, evolution, fragilities and strengths.
Each artwork represents a story able to narrate a place and broaden the observer’s understanding.
Her work investigates the perception of landscape and its boundaries—an intimate journey through space, where patterns, geometry, and perspective dissect and reconstruct the visible world. Through this process, distinct and uniquely identifiable elements come together to form a balanced representation of place, where equilibrium is achieved through the “thought of the landscape.”