Artist Statement
Marianna Peragallo’s anthropomorphic sculptures are playful self-portraits about the cross-sections of love, labor, endurance, and support. They are learning what love and support can look like and have mutated into hybrid forms that are neither object nor body. This malleability allows them to physically embody a single loving gesture in a surreal, humorous, and slightly overbearing way. She started thinking critically about love in reaction to normalized abuse of power and systemic oppression, realizing that love gets misinterpreted as being sentimental, passive, or, worse, manipulative. However, love is a radical act rooted in strength and mutual support. Some sculptures use common household hardware such as pipes, screws, faucets, and lights to illuminate the structures of support. These objects are the foundations and guts of our spaces that can be taken for granted despite being essential. The playful quality of the work is reminiscent of children’s books and childhood, where we first learn (or mislearn) about love. Love is an action that requires tremendous effort and stretches us beyond the confines of comfort. Her sculptures work toward this in their gestures and are learning what love can look like.
