THE NATIVITY SCENE

The nativity scene is the representation of the Jesus’s birthday. It is the place, where every family in the world for every Christmas meet themselves every year.
Whatever its composition, the nativity scene is the story of a family, the holy family, which offers its simplicity to humanity, the essentiality as a lifestyle, as an antidote for the happiness of all people for all time.
Since many years, I proposed to myself to make a ceramic nativity scene that reflected my thoughts and my art.
After many years this nativity scene was born, exhibited for the first time in the wonderful Cathedral of Monreale, at the foot of the Pantocrator, among the gold mosaics, it represents contemporary humanity.
The figures, which I have shaped in the silence and solitude of my laboratory, in a real contemplation, they do not have a specific color.
And this is desidered. I decided to sacrifice the chromatic tradition typical of classical sculptural painting, in favor of a, in my opinion better, multi-purpose instrumental to the message that I wanted to hurl.
This is the meaning of this choice. Reminding everyone that even in multiplicity there is a harmony that must always be enhanced and nurtured. This variety of color, in fact, recalls humanity in its many nuances.
My thought, in particular, is for a special place that history has made tragically known: the sea of Lampedusa where suffering humanity met and where I took the various shades of blue or green. But also red that refers to the blood of the innocent.
The Mediterranean sea, in recent years, has unfortunately been the theater of a thousand tragedies linked to the drama of migrants. These tragedies concern both history and each of us.
The colors, multi-colored, according to the artistic tradition of my workshop, refer to the idea of the nativity scene of humanity, where baby Jesus, can be a child of any country or city in the world and this be worth to each of the characters of the nativity scene. The palm grove is the symbol of life, which nothing can destroy. It is a symbol of beauty, grace and stability.
A palm grove that is a psalmody, the verses of which the master Giuliano knows well: "The righteous will blossom like a palm tree [...] Even if old, it bears fruit, it is always green and luxuriant" (Ps 92: 13-15).
In this circumstance, I like to quote a sentence of Pope Benedict XVI that refers to my thought. About the nativity scene, a few years ago he said: the nativity scene is a school of life, where we can learn the secret of true happiness.
In this historical moment of great crisis and suffering for humanity, I hope that my work will remain in time, for those who will have the opportunity to resemble it, testimony of the revolution of beauty and truth, which each of us must feel actively involved.

Nicolò Giuliano