A reclining body, curled in on itself. The stone conveys its weight, its folds, its apparent fragility. The encounter with In Flagella Paratus Sum begins with this presence: a human figure that occupies space and invites us to pause.
In Jago’s work, marble takes on a dimension that extends beyond anatomical representation. The sculpted body carries a history of travel, exposure and transformation, in which events that occur after its creation also become part of the sculpture.
Marmi Minucciano’s Nero Cattani® and Bianco Cattani® marbles contribute to this journey through their distinct qualities and roles. Their relationship allows the work to be read through its material, tracing the transition from its original form to the visible marks of what it has endured.
Nero Cattani and the Presence of the Body
The figure takes shape in Nero Cattani marble, whose dark tone gives the body a powerful presence. The carving articulates the surface through volumes, incisions and subtle transitions, allowing light to reveal the sculpture’s details.
The visual solidity of the stone meets the vulnerability of the pose. The body appears drawn in on itself, exposed, close to the ground: a condition that may suggest rest, exhaustion or a need for protection, leaving viewers room to recognise a human experience within it.
In this reading, the strength of the material and the fragility of the figure coexist. The enduring marble preserves a gesture that, in a living body, would be fleeting.
A Journey Into Reality
The sculpture’s history includes an actual passage across the Mediterranean. In 2022, the work travelled aboard the Ocean Viking, the SOS MEDITERRANEE rescue vessel, during a rescue mission. Initially presented as Marmo Italiano, it was dedicated to people fleeing across the sea.
This journey establishes a direct relationship between the subject depicted and the circumstances surrounding it. The sculpted figure shares a setting with real people, periods of waiting and rescue operations, acquiring a history that accompanies its form.
Sculpture in Shared Space
Its subsequent presentation at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico brings this presence into a collective space, familiar to an audience beyond museum visitors. The body lying at the centre of the pitch changes the perception of the space: the vastness of the stadium makes the figure’s inward, gathered posture all the more apparent.
On Ponte Sant’Angelo, In Flagella Paratus Sum becomes part of the city’s daily life. The encounter unfolds between movement and pause, within a space shared by people with different perspectives and experiences.
The position of the body invites viewers to lower their gaze and reconsider their own distance from the figure. The sculpture thus creates a pause in the flow of people passing by.
The Wound and Bianco Cattani
During its exhibition on Ponte Sant’Angelo in Rome, the sculpture is vandalised. The damage marks a rupture in its history, to which Jago responds by returning to work on the piece. In an interview exploring his artistic journey, he describes the possibility of turning even the actions of others into part of the narrative.
The damaged form is repaired with Bianco Cattani marble, sourced from the same quarry as the original black marble. Two materials with a shared origin thus take on distinct roles within the same body.
The colour contrast makes the transformation visible. The white marble introduces a discontinuity that can be read as both a memory of the wound and a sign of repair. The surface preserves the successive stages of the work’s history: what was carved, what was damaged and what was given a new form.
Material Preserves Memory
The work’s journey continues at the Jago Museum in Naples, where the sculpture is welcomed under the title Integrazione. The body and its repair enter a new context, carrying the memory of the journey and the transformations it has undergone.
The power of the work emerges from this relationship between material, place and viewer. Marble holds a presence and preserves its transformations. Nero Cattani and Bianco Cattani marbles become parts of a single testimony, in which form makes vulnerability visible and stone preserves its memory.
