Roots and Wings II Painting by Justine Formentelli

Painting: Watercolor, Acrylic, collage, printmaking, oil pastel on Paper.

While making this piece, I was thinking of the french expression: “donner des racines et des ailes” (Give roots and wings) when speaking of raising children in a balanced way. Having grown up in different countries and not having a clear definition of Home, i have always wondered about my roots or the absence of them. How is an identity built without a clear sense of belonging somewhere? Does it gets built layers by layers, by collecting things from different environments and becoming an eclectic assemblage, a collage of influences…


I also wanted to oppose the ideas of flux and movement with solidity and permanence (or at least the illusion of)
and translate the feeling of precariousness and fragile equilibrium between change and stability, the longing for a nest against the current of life. This is what informed my choice of materials (from fragile cut outs to thick oil pastel)