So is human action, out in the world. Nothing we take and nothing we place, we pass and forget. Pessoa, XLII

A chair reminiscent of a human figure, built using the same technique as the dry stone walls that encircle the Agora of the Fort San Jachiddu Ecological Park in Messina, Sicily.

The work refers to the modification of the land that man makes through his work, a transformation that spans through centuries and remains even when man himself leaves or disappears. Inspired by Pessoa's verses, Rallias attempts to imprint man himself in the world, or at least his image or trace, relying on the techniques that have shaped our geography and history.

The dry stone walls that characterize this place as well as many others in Sicily and throughout the Mediterranean are in fact testaments to an ancient farming technique that unites hilly and maritime landscapes. In Greece in particular, this tradition is embodied in the so-called Aloni, circular stone structure used for seed collection and fertilization of the surrounding fields.

Just as the stones of the walls, those of the statue were simply gathered and rearranged to create the figure. The artist thus impersonates the work of those who have already passed through these places, leaving their mark, and is also responsible for giving a new arrangement and meaning to those parts destroyed and ruined by time, maintaining and brushing up their memory.

Leonardo Sforza