Giovanni Randazzo

Giovanni Randazzo’s Lumen Obscurans explores the tension between seeing and truly looking in an age of visual overload. Built around a pair of eyewear whose lenses are intentionally obscured, the work questions our diminishing ability to engage critically with the images that surround us, particularly those depicting war and forced displacement. Through sound recordings from everyday life in Gaza, an LED display quoting Hannah Arendt, and a magnifying Fresnel lens, the piece invites viewers to pause, listen and reflect on what it means to lose not only a home, but the social, cultural and emotional fabric that gives a place meaning. It also resonates with the history of the Abbey of Misericordia, once a place of refuge for pilgrims and migrants.

“In a world saturated with images, we see more than ever, yet look less. By temporarily suspending vision and placing listening at the centre of the experience, the work invites us to recover empathy and reflect on the profound loss of those who are forced to leave not only their homes, but the entire world to which they belong.”