Franco Bellavita

In Quechua, the word “Chakaruna” translates to “bridge-person,” referring to one who acts as a mediator between different worlds—between what is symbolically called “Earth and Heaven.” I believe that artists serve as these bridges, enabling access to transcendental experiences. I see a clear parallel between the artist’s work and that of the ancient alchemists who transformed matter, or the healing practices of shamans from ancestral cultures.

 

Through my work, I find a space to express my animist side—the worldview in which elements of the natural world are endowed with their own soul and consciousness, and where spiritual beings balance the relationship between nature and humanity.
My collages are syncretic universes inhabited by mythological beings, forest creatures, and spiritual entities, set in opposition to traditional cultural archetypes. My work serves as a channel for my worldview, allowing me to reconnect with ancient and forgotten ways of inhabiting the world.

 

I often ask myself: What happens if we pull back the veil of reality? How many universes live within our daily lives? Which worlds do we choose to inhabit through our perception? I have always been drawn to the dimensions of reality that escape ordinary perception. Through meditation and experiences with expanded states of consciousness, I have come to understand our capacity to pierce the fabric of reality and explore new planes of existence.

 

I believe that artistic practice allows us to reveal the hidden and manifest the invisible. The shamans of ancient Mexico spoke of the “Assemblage Point”—a center of perception that, when shifted, allows us to perceive more than the mundane. The creative process allows us to shift this point and connect with other worlds.

 

Fantasy is an essential part of reality; it is a necessary territory. Making its value visible is an act of protection and defense—a tribute dedicated to all those who conceive of the imaginary as a second home.