Materia Medica/Metafisica
2012

Materia Medica/Metafisica is a series of “portraits,” made with gouache, encaustic, beeswax, antique anatomical drawings and images from nature and art history. They are created on original 17th century materia medica manuscripts containing recipes that combine natural substances for healing the body. The beeswax used on these collages contains virgin wax from the apiary at the Benedictine Monastery of Torrechiara outside of Parma, Italy.

While materia medica in the title of this series refers to remedial substances used for healing, metafisica refers to the ineffable elements of spirit, mind and mystery. Ten of these works were included in my exhibition, Embodiments, at La Specola Museum in Florence in 2012/2013.