Interview with Paola Marchi on the Nine Sufi Tales

On the occasion of the publication of the new book Nove Novelle Sufi by Paola Marchi, we offer you the interview with the talented author.

Cultural Cannibals Blog - Tell us a little about the Nine Sufi Tales : why did you decide to create this book?
PM - This book was born a bit by chance, I lived in Bergamo and I went to a bookshop very often, the Ubik in Piazza Pontida. The atmosphere of the bookshops is really special because the bookshop has a very strong magical component. In fact, every book tells something, if you enter the bookshop with the intention of being captured , you can have very interesting experiences. It happened that I found a collection of Sufi short stories, a tiny book hidden at the bottom - he called me - and so I took it home and started reading it and from there I got the idea to illustrate some of them for my children, the ones that seemed most suitable to me; I said the rest in the introduction to the book.

CCB - What is the aspect that attracts you most in these narratives?
PM - Surely the fact that they leave you speechless. They are very simple and yet they escape normal understanding.

CCB - What do these short stories convey to you?
PM - I expect important life advice. They are like a compass and contain a wisdom of life that passes, you can feel it. They are educational, in the highest sense of the word and I feel I can say it without being accused of arrogance. In fact, the accusation that is increasingly made against me is that of being presumptuous and this serves as a lesson to me, because evidently I have to learn to keep quiet - something extremely difficult for me - and I am learning it; for example, the story of the man who walked on water teaches me the great power of humility and comforts me a little, especially when I find myself faced with the arrogance that comes from ignorance. The arrogant ignoramus is one of the most dangerous species that are around lately, that is why those who throw themselves into the difficult field of education must be shielded, because we are experiencing a state of general lowering of the essential quality of individuals. One could object at this point: "Who makes you do it?" . The question is pertinent, the answer always leaves the detractor unsatisfied, because there is no answer. I do it simply because I find myself in this situation. My life is this, I do not have another to replace to meet the difficulties of those who interact with me.

CCB - How did you interpret them, artistically? And with what techniques?
PM - I drew the Nine Sufi Novels as I saw them while I was reading them. I used two different techniques because I made them in two distant periods. This was the cause of an initial difficulty, in fact the first three are more immediate, I had made them for my children and I didn't think of showing them to anyone else. In a certain sense I was freer, I realize that now. The other six put me to the test a bit because after many years, I have returned to an old way of drawing, but as time has passed my hand has also changed, the stroke has changed, the way I use color, even the materials are different. In fact for the first ones I only used oil pastels and collage, in the other six I didn't use collage and I combined the oil pastel with watercolors and colored chalks.

CCB - What did you personally contribute?

PM - My personal contribution? The drawing, the fact that I tried to make the message conveyed by the story visible and the sincere desire to reach children.

CCB - Tell us about your meeting with Gabriel Mandel. What did he leave you with?
Gabriele Mandel! I have talked about it too much, I am beginning to feel embarrassed. I will only say that he left me the approval of the Father, an approval that I have always lacked and that has been a great handicap for me since I was born. It is difficult to talk about this thing, because it is very personal and also delicate. In my room I have hung on the door the Authorizations that Gabriele Mandel used with his patients. At the end he writes: "God is better, more powerful, more generous, more affectionate than my father and my mother". Affirmation of a cosmic power!

CCB - What is the result you want to achieve with these Novelle?
PM - I would like to receive what is right and what I deserve, no more and no less.

CCB - In a nutshell, what do you wish there was more of in this world?
PM - Eh! Good question. I wish there was more lightness, less people pissed off with everything and everyone, less barricading, more real smiles. If I had to say it in the language of flowers, I would say more roses and less hybiscus.

CCB - Your next projects?
PM - As for art, I'm working on my third solo show, which I'll do next year. As for the immediate future, I'm about to start working with children and I consider this a great privilege and also a great responsibility, because the children are us, tomorrow. There are many other things going on, but I don't like to talk too much about future projects, you know how it is, I've learned to be a little superstitious.