{"id":54235,"date":"2024-07-25T15:10:39","date_gmt":"2024-07-25T15:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/uk\/book\/maria-lai-holding-the-shadow-by-the-hand\/"},"modified":"2025-03-16T09:01:22","modified_gmt":"2025-03-16T09:01:22","slug":"maria-lai-holding-the-shadow-by-the-hand","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/uk\/book\/maria-lai-holding-the-shadow-by-the-hand\/","title":{"rendered":"Maria Lai: Holding the Shadow by the Hand"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Maria Lai always had a special relationship with fairy tales. She considered them a metaphor for art and a way of communicating with the public in a simple, straightforward way. Starting in the 1980s, fairy tales became central to her art. <em>Tenendo per mano il sole, Tenendo per mano l&rsquo;ombra, Curiosape<\/em> and <em>Maria Pietra<\/em>, are her most famous &ldquo;sewn fairy tales&rdquo; &ndash; books created by the artist using castoff textiles.<\/p>\n<p>Maria Lai&rsquo;s fairy tales are not merely children&rsquo;s stories, but profound reflections on life and what it means to be a human being. They are often inspired by Sardinian myths and legends, to which the artist gives a personal twist, adding autobiographical details and philosophical reflections. <br \/>\nThis edition of <em>Tenendo per mano l&#8217;ombra<\/em> is a printed version of Maria Lai&rsquo;s 1987 tale. The original consists of fabric pages sewn together and collages of dyed textiles, on which the artist has embroidered geometric figures, yarn and other materials. The fairy tale tells the story of a human being (and his double) who must learn to accept shadows, the dark part of the world and of himself. The figure&rsquo;s shadow, in Maria Lai&rsquo;s fairy tale, is not a negative element to be rejected, but an integral part of his personality. To live an untroubled and complete life, one must learn to accept and live with it.<\/p>\n<p>Elena Pontiggia&rsquo;s concluding essay accompanies the reader in a fascinating page by page interpretation of the fable, and discusses Lai&rsquo;s artistic and stylistic approach in the context of an extensive network of philosophical, literary and artistic references: from Kant and Manzoni to Klee and Malevi&#269;.<\/p>\n<p>Text in English and Italian.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maria Lai wove fairy tales into art, using textiles and metaphors to explore life&#8217;s complexities. Her &#8220;sewn fairy tales,&#8221; like Holding the Shadow by the Hand, reflect on accepting shadows, both literal and personal. Text in English and Italian.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":54565,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[5568],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-54235","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-art","7":"author-by-author-elena-pontiggia","8":"publisher-five-continents-editions","10":"first","11":"instock","12":"shipping-taxable","13":"purchasable","14":"product-type-simple"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Maria Lai: Holding the Shadow by the Hand - ACC Art Books UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Title: Maria Lai: Holding the Shadow by the Hand, Pages: 60 Pages, Publish Date: 31st Oct 2024, Author: Elena Pontiggia, ISBN: 9791254600849. Maria Lai wove fairy tales into art, using textiles and metaphors to explore life&#039;s complexities. Her &quot;sewn fairy tales,&quot; like Holding the Shadow by the Hand, reflect on accepting shadows, both literal and personal. Text in English and Italian.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/uk\/book\/maria-lai-holding-the-shadow-by-the-hand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maria Lai: Holding the Shadow by the Hand - ACC Art Books UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Title: Maria Lai: Holding the Shadow by the Hand, Pages: 60 Pages, Publish Date: 31st Oct 2024, Author: Elena Pontiggia, ISBN: 9791254600849. Maria Lai wove fairy tales into art, using textiles and metaphors to explore life&#039;s complexities. Her &quot;sewn fairy tales,&quot; like Holding the Shadow by the Hand, reflect on accepting shadows, both literal and personal. Text in English and Italian.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/uk\/book\/maria-lai-holding-the-shadow-by-the-hand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ACC Art Books UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ACCArtBooks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-16T09:01:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/app\/uploads\/books\/9791254600849-04-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@accartbooks\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/uk\/book\/maria-lai-holding-the-shadow-by-the-hand\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/uk\/book\/maria-lai-holding-the-shadow-by-the-hand\/\",\"name\":\"Maria Lai: Holding the Shadow by the Hand - ACC Art Books UK\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/uk\/book\/maria-lai-holding-the-shadow-by-the-hand\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/uk\/book\/maria-lai-holding-the-shadow-by-the-hand\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/app\/uploads\/books\/9791254600849-04-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-07-25T15:10:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-16T09:01:22+00:00\",\"description\":\"Title: Maria Lai: Holding the Shadow by the Hand, Pages: 60 Pages, Publish Date: 31st Oct 2024, Author: Elena Pontiggia, ISBN: 9791254600849. 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