Annamaria Tosini

In the garden of the family villa in Casteldaccia (Palermo), in a path of flowers, sounds, perfumes, where the trees had drops of crystal fruits, Annamaria Tosini (Palermo 1930-2013) had walked around welcoming Jorge Luis Borges and her wife Maria Kodama.

The wife of an engineer, Annamaria Tosini, has been a permanent presence of the citys cultural and social events for twenty years, until the time of the financial collapse of the family. Following the death of her husband, the two children far away from home, she is transferred to a retirement home. But she does not stop creating. And instead of letting go of despair, in the last fifteen years of her life, she invents worlds made of fragile sculptures of recycled paper, ribbons, feathers. She listens to music, gives body to her memories, often accompanying her creations with poetic texts and looking for a way to salvation in art, in her difficult situation. Unfortunately, in the care structure her works are periodically destroyed. It is only thanks to the intervention of the Outsider Art Observatory of Palermo that the works realized in her last year of life will be preserved.

Selected exhibitions

2022 – “Never ending stories”, Musee Visionnaire, Zurich

2018 – “The F factor. Femininity, frailty, force”, Maroncelli 12 Gallery, Milan

2017 – In/carta/mi”, Rizomi Gallery, Parma

2013 – Giardini e sculture di carta”, solo exhibition, Orto Botanico, Palermo