A collection of unique objects, designed by the Noto artist Cori Amenta and made by the master ceramists of Verus Ceramiche of Caltagirone. Inspired by freedom in all its forms, for the first time, the “Moors” are not conceived in pairs but, provocatively, in blissful completeness.
It does not happen very often that a millenary tradition is revolutionalized. This is what happened from the meeting between Verus Ceramiche, an institution of the Caltagirone artistic manufacture, and Cori Amenta, designer, stylist and DJ with a long career in Milan developed between photo sets and fashion magazine covers, and recently returned to the wonderful hometown, Noto, to follow various projects related to art and hospitality.
That of Teste di Moro, a symbol of the highest craftsmanship and the proud character of a wonderful people, is, in fact, a story that is lost in the dawn of time in Sicily.
In the Moor’s Heads my experience and my face become art, a song of redemption designed to bring beauty, culture and the positive values of freedom and peace.
(Cori Amenta)
A tradition that seems to have been born when a noblewoman from Palermo, to take revenge for the betrayal of her splendid Moorish lover (referring at that time to peoples from Mauretania), kills him, then using the head as a vase for her beloved flowers.
The legend explains why, since then, the Sicilian Moors always go in pairs; a woman‘s head embodying proud femininity and a man’s head, a symbol of virility and courage.
Ambassador of the international Queer community, Cori Amenta wanted to overturn this stereotype, combining both traits in each of her works, thus merging the masculine and the feminine and giving life to original and intense works of art that narrate this fascinating dualism through episodes of real life and the history of her people, linked to ancient Greece and its myths.
Each Testa di Moro in the Verus by Cori Amenta collection is made in the Verus Ceramiche atelier in Caltagirone, a company that symbolizes internationally this wonderful art, where precious one-of-a-kind pieces are created, completely hand-moulded, painted and glazed.
The new collection, recently presented to the press, boasts 15 subjects, including Puppu, the king of the abyss, a primitive sexless creature, a metaphor for transformation and “mimesis”, Aniura, like a Madonna of Tindari with brown skin similar to ebony, and Frida, from the name of the famous Mexican artist, a symbol of strength and beauty.
Verus by Cori Amenta can be purchased at the splendid Verus Ceramiche showroom located in the center of Caltagirone and at the official dealers of the Sicilian brand.
The Secret
The idea of the first Moor’s Head, the Puppu, came to Cori Amenta during a plane trip, when inappropriate comments were made to her when passing through the metal detector. A wonderful symbol of rebirth, Cori has transformed negative feelings into creativity, letting her head with octopus’s tentacles speak for her and all of us, in the name of respect and freedom.
Useful Info
Lifestyle photos courtesy of Roberto Strano.
