South, London
Lina Hermsdorf
Lucus Bona Dea
Jupiter WoodsJupiter Woods presents Lucus Bona Dea, a solo exhibition by Lina Hermsdorf. Featuring a new film developed during her stay at the Mahler & LeWitt Studios in Italy, the project is centered around the Lucus Bona Dea at Acquaiura: a little known ancient sacred forest in Umbria dedicated to the Roman goddess Bona Dea, a divinity venerated exclusively by women. The sacred forest was subject to protective laws and men were only permitted access to carry out maintenance work. During the festivals of Bona Dea, women were for once authorized to drink strong wine and make blood sacrifices. The knowledge of their practices is scarce as it has predominantly been passed on by male writers, who were barred from the rites; remaining therefore a subject of men’s curiosity and speculation. Loosely inspired by Charles and Ray Eames’ 'Power of Ten’, the film - consisting of real-time rendered, drone and google earth studio footage - captures an aerial view of the forest and plays with the language of cinematic blockbusters. The form of the material also marks the technological time when the work was produced, approximately 1,990 years later; the marble of the Bona Dea altar dates back to the first half of the 1st Century AD. Here the cult of Bona Dea is unearthed, becoming a source to think about the suspension of existing laws, notions of excess and exclusion; as well as to reflect on how information is being passed through bodies/nature and informs our identities. The forest with its sophisticated mycorrhizal network embeds the story in its own way, filling gaps that history has left, as well as creating new ones. This cyclical movement encompassing nature and history is also reflected in the biographical elements of the narrator, Paola Dionisotti (born 1946), that feature within the narrative through the different cycles of female life: from puberty, fertility to menopause. Initial research for this project was carried out on the 'Artist’s Books Residency Program’, guest curated by Jo Melvin at the Mahler & LeWitt Studios in 2018. The exhibition is kindly supported by Arts Council England and Mahler & LeWitt Studios.