“Coltivazione del Sé” (2021), Cassino, Italy. All images © ONIRO, shared with permission
Greenery abounds in the large-scale murals of Italian artist ONIRO, who often focuses on themes of interconnectedness and balance, especially between humans and the natural world. In “Coltivazione del Sé,” or “self-cultivation,” a human form emerges from the leaves and shadows of a burgeoning plant, while an opening of sky between branches reveals a facial silhouette in an untitled mural on an olive oil processing workshop.
In 2022, ONIRO completed an ambitious series that links three neighboring communities along the Via Aurelia, an ancient Roman artery in Italy constructed around 241 B.C.E. that remains a busy commercial thoroughfare today. “Each mural is a necessary part for the others, like organs that form an organism, and which as a whole has a greater value than the sum of the individual parts,” the artist says.
The three pieces in Organismo, or “body,” are composed in a loose, painterly style to depict Gaia—the ancient Greek goddess who personified the earth—an island shaped like the human heart, and a peninsula shaped like lungs with flowing, bronchial inlets. Explore more on Behance and Instagram.
Untitled, La Marina oil mill, San Donato Val Comino, Italy (2021)
“Organismo – Cuore” (2022), Comune di Castagneto Carducci, Italy
“Coltivazione del Sé”
Detail of “Coltivazione del Sé”
“Organismo – Polmoni” (2022), Comune di San Vincenzo, Italy
Aerial view of “Organismo – Polmoni.” Photo by Francesco Luongo
“Organismo – Gaia” (2022), Comune di Venturina Terme, Italy
“Casa del Fiume”
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