The Tale of the Eye, the Snake and the Seed: An Interview with Lucia Pizzani

Lucia, can you tell us a little about yourself?

Originally from Venezuela, I moved to London 17 years ago. I studied here at the Chelsea College of Arts, did an MA in Fine Arts, and previously had studied Visual Communications in Caracas and Conservation Biology in NY. I was part of the environmental movement for many years, and this has nurtured my practice, along with the experience of growing up as the daughter of two prominent artists in Venezuela. 

I’m a mother, a visual artist, and my main concerns are the ecological crisis we are facing as a species and the delicate situation in my country of origin, where I still have many family members. But above all, I’m still an optimist and fighter for new models where feminism, community, and peace can embrace us all. 

Your work, The Tale of the Eye, the Snake and the Seed, brings together sculpture, sound, and storytelling. How do these different elements interact, and what do you hope visitors take away from experiencing the piece in the gardens?

The works play with notions of time and space, with the 3 symbols acting as awakening entities. I wish that visitors go beyond the visual experience of the three-dimensional sculptures and can listen, imagine, and feel through the works. 

The piece revolves around three symbols: the eye, the snake, and the seed. What drew you to these motifs, and what do they represent for you in this work?

I have been working with them for years. They are deeply rooted in many cultures across time and geography. The Snake was the first one. I started exploring it back in 2017, for the possibilities it represents in transformation and healing. As it sheds its skin and regrows a new one, something we humans do, but as a slower process, it has been associated with renewal for centuries. I have chosen to use the snake in a Spiral shape as it represents both our DNA double helix, coiled in that way, and the cosmos when we see the rotating disks containing stars that are the spiral galaxies. 

Then I incorporated the Seed almost simultaneously in my research, as I was always going back to the oval shape. For me, it is a shape that can be found in the eyes, the mouth, the vulva and a seed. It becomes a point of entry, but foremost, it is a place of birth.

The Eyes came a bit later in my practice, when I wanted to humanise pieces based on plant species. The Eye stands for protection, a presence, and it’s the start of the sound piece; it’s the one that triggers the awakening. 

Nature, myth, and biology are recurring themes in your practice. How does the landscape of Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens influence the way this work exists in the space?

I have always combined places and cultures in my work. My experience as a migrant has made me have multicultural layers. I was amazed to discover a place with such a variety of plants, for example, the palms you have in the garden, the habitat there is a diverse one and is also multilayered, like the sculptures, like myself.

This sub-tropical land in the UK hosts a collection of seeds that have travelled and found a new home. Plants have often travelled with humans, even more so with colonial trade, and presently, through the global connectedness we have. I believe materials tell stories, seeds do too.

Symbols are created as a way of trying to understand the world and the many invisible forces and events that condition our lives. I think it was a perfect match for the Eye, the Snake and the Seed to now live at Tremenheere, their tales, the ones I propose, and the ones people know and imagine are now surrounded by a rich environment, where other stories are being shared through art and nature and its communion. 

Collaboration and dialogue often play a role in your work. How have your creative partnerships, and perhaps even the interaction with gardens like this, themselves, shaped this piece?

Previous experiences while growing up and participating in my mother’s video arts in the 80s showed me how working as part of a group can enrich and transform an artwork. Then, while being part of the NGO Provita in Venezuela, it was the same; we shared trips to the Amazon and the Andes and worked with communities there. This piece has many collaborators who each play a role and bring ideas and background.

Lucia Pietroiusti, a curator specialised in Ecology, co-wrote the piece with me that then transformed into a sound piece by Javier Weyler. The projects took months to make, and I wanted to activate the works with a live performance. This grew into a 3-person presentation, so each woman participating could impersonate one of the symbols, and I invited Luzmira Zerpa. She is a Venezuelan singer-songwriter and brought her knowledge of our native ancestral rituals and music to the performance.

Originally staged at Regent’s Park for Frieze Sculpture, this work embodies my experiences visiting parks, forests, and gardens where art and nature interact. For me, the most interesting projects are the ones that enable specific ways and foster dialogue between the art and its surroundings and the people who visit or live around it. Projects with works that are integral to the land, that are generous in offering cultural value, and that act and live as part of an ecosystem.