“NO ONE LEAVES HOME UNLESS
HOME IS THE MOUTH OF A SHARK”
HOME, WARSAN SHIRE
The concept of home serves as a cardinal point in defining one’s identity. It transcends mere physical space, embodying a complex amalgamation of memories, relationships, emotions, and environments. Home encapsulates what is most cherished and molds us, for better or worse, into who we are. When the mouth of a shark or the tears of a crocodile signify home, they speak not of sanctuary, but of betrayal and the erosion of our fundamental essence — where we come from, where we’re headed, and who we want alongside us on our journey.
The Crocodile’s Home is an art installation by Lanfranco Aceti, curated by Alessandro Melis e Giorgio de Finis, for the MAAM Museo dell’Altro e dell’Altrove di Metropoliz_città meticcia that explores the intricacies of the notion of home, examining and reflecting upon our increasingly fractured societies. Utilizing water — the primordial source from which all life emerged — as a symbol of matriarchal power, Aceti reimagines an ancient Roman myth surrounding the river Tiber. His artworks, crafted from tears — both literal drops of water and tangible expressions of anguish and duplicity — transform an entire home into a landscape of devastation. Here, personal tragedies, tales of migration, and instances of discrimination converge within an environment where objects serve as both art and design, functionality intertwined with aesthetic symbolism.
For Aceti, the river Tiber, coursing through Rome, embodies femininity rather than the assumed masculinity dictated by linguistic gender norms in Italian. Drawing inspiration from the traditional association of rivers with nymphs, Aceti examines how patriarchal dominance has shaped and distorted societal landscapes over time. The works of art provide a moment to reconsider our personal routines with their everyday objects, too easily discarded as banal. The meanings that our daily lives should have rooted clash versus the obliviating superficiality of capitalistic engagements with which we have become accustomed to treat them.
Image Captions:
Image 1: Lanfranco Aceti, At Home, 2024. Print on fine art paper. Dimensions: variable.
