Gesti scolpiti, Jago in Taormina

From September 3, 2025, the Ancient Theater of Taormina will host Gesti scolpiti (Sculpted Gestures), an exhibition that brings together four works by Jago — Impronta Animale (Animal Imprint, 2012), Memoria (Memory, 2015), Prigione (Prison, 2016), and David (2024, bronze) — with the cultural and archaeological stratification of Taormina.

The first three sculptures, carved in statuary marble, revolve around the theme of the hand: a symbol of contact, creation, and personal affirmation. It is through the hand that human beings leave their mark, sink into matter, and build memory. Not just a tool, but a self-portrait: a living presence that transcends time.

In Impronta Animale (Animal Footprint), the hand becomes a relic: a primordial sign reminiscent of cave paintings, evoking an ancestral connection with the earth and our deep history. Memoria (Memory) presents a footprint carved into stone. The work reflects on memory and heritage, making the trace of human presence tangible as a symbol of permanence and remembrance.

In Prison, the sculpted image, wrapped in the folds of marble, seems to want to emerge from a stone prison. The contours of the human figure are barely outlined, while the limbs extend with a strong sense of tension. The gesture says it all: the urgency of existence, symbolizing the struggle to free oneself from what constrains.

Next to these stands David, a bronze sculpture measuring 181 cm in height, displayed atop the stands of the Ancient Theater. After completing a symbolic journey around the world alongside the training ship Amerigo Vespucci, the work now arrives in Taormina, bringing with it the weight of an epic and contemporary narrative.

As in other works, here too Jago draws on classical iconography and the tradition of the great masters, reinterpreting the myth of David and Goliath in a modern key to tell a different story, but one that is still full of courage and revenge.