Fotini Gouseti: solo residency within the residential programme Dogs Are Barking, Caravans Are Passing Through (2020) – art and research project Mauro Fiumano

Fotini Gouseti – solo residency within the residential programme Dogs Are Barking, Caravans Are Passing Through (2020) – art and research project Mauro Fiumano

Fotini Gouseti first came to Rijeka in October 2019 as an artist exhibiting at the group exhibition We’re Not Like Them at the MMSU. Then she discovered the Moretto (morčić), a traditional figurine in the form of a black head, wearing a white and red turban. According to the legend, Moretto derived straight out of the Grobnik battlefield where, on 24th March 1595, locals defended their area against the Ottomans.

The Moretto symbol functions as an amulet, made to prevent the evil and the Other, and commonly takes the form of an earrings, made out of gold and enamel, with optional use of gemstones, worn in different manners throughout history by different classes and all genders.

Fotini conducted her research about Moretto from February until May 2020, with the online symposium/artist talk as an outcome.