In a quiet clearing hidden within the Umbrian countryside, surrounded by ancient woodland, rolling hills, and distant views of the Apennines, South African-Zimbabwean artist Michele Mathison has unveiled Verso il Cielo (Towards the Sky), a permanent public commission developed during his residency with Tyburn Foundation at La Foce. Rising from the earth in a sequence of travertine columns that echo both geological formations and architectural rhythms, the work invites visitors into a space of contemplation, movement, and stillness.
For more than a decade, Mathison has built an international practice exploring material memory, migration, architecture, and landscape through sculpture. Since representing Zimbabwe at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013, he has become known for transforming familiar and often utilitarian materials into works that examine how cultural meaning shifts across geography and time. Stone, in particular, has remained a constant companion throughout his artistic journey, connecting personal histories from Zimbabwe with broader conversations around place, permanence, and belonging.
The commission also marks an important moment for Tyburn Foundation, founded by collector and former gallerist Emma Menell. Building on the legacy of Tyburn Gallery in London, the Foundation supports African artists through residencies, commissions, and long-term relationships that extend beyond the traditional rhythms of the art market. Situated within the historic landscape of La Foce, Menell’s Umbrian home and one of the Foundation’s residency sites, Verso il Cielo reflects the Foundation’s commitment to creating meaningful environments where artists can develop ambitious projects in dialogue with place.
Africans Column sat down with Michele Mathison at La Foce during the unveiling of Verso il Cielo to discuss his lifelong relationship with stone, the evolution of his collaboration with Tyburn Foundation, the role of artisans and fabricators within his practice, and what it means to create a permanent public work that exists between sculpture, architecture, and landscape.
Africans Column: You’ve worked extensively with stone throughout your practice. Can you tell us about your relationship with the material and how it has evolved over the years?
Michele Mathison: I’ve been working as a full-time artist since representing Zimbabwe at the Venice Biennale in 2013, which really helped kickstart my career and allowed me to focus fully on my practice. Stone has always been a language I’ve been interested in. Growing up in Zimbabwe, there’s such a strong history of stone sculpture, so I was always surrounded by stone and by the material itself.
Over the years, I’ve slowly come to understand more about how stone works — its limitations, but also its possibilities. What fascinates me about stone is its duality. It can simply be a rock lying on the side of the road, something people overlook completely, but at the same time it can become architecture, sculpture, or something deeply meaningful. In some ways it’s worthless, but at the same time priceless. That tension makes it a very interesting material to work with.
Africans Column: Your relationship with Tyburn Foundation goes back several years, long before this commission. How did that relationship begin, and how did the conversation around Verso il Cielo emerge?
Michele Mathison: My relationship with Tyburn goes back about ten years, when the foundation was still operating as Tyburn Gallery in London. Emma Menell approached me at the time through the gallery I was working with in Cape Town. Her family has a connection to South Africa, and we eventually began collaborating.
We did two exhibitions together that I’m still very proud of. A lot of those works explored migration, colonial histories, and my own experience growing up in Zimbabwe and later moving to South Africa. There was already a strong dialogue between us around those themes long before this commission.
About a year ago Emma got in touch again and explained that Tyburn was now evolving into a foundation. She invited me to spend time at La Foce in Umbria and begin thinking about creating a permanent sculpture for the landscape here.
Africans Column: Verso il Cielo feels deeply connected to the landscape surrounding it. What initially drew you to the site at La Foce, and how did the environment shape your thinking around the work?
Michele Mathison: The site itself was the biggest inspiration. Before the sculpture existed, it was already a very peaceful space. You have to walk to reach it, so already there’s a kind of pilgrimage involved. You leave one space and move intentionally into another.
What struck me immediately was the stillness of the environment. It was quiet, but also very alive. You could hear birds, animals moving through the trees, deer tracks in the earth, rabbits moving through the landscape. The clearing itself almost felt like a portal or a window into the sky because of how the trees surround the space.
I became interested in the verticality of the landscape and the natural slope of the hill. The work follows that movement of the land — rising, dipping, and then lifting upward again toward the sky, which is also where the title comes from: Verso il Cielo, meaning “Towards the Sky.”
Africans Column: The installation carries a strong sense of stillness, verticality, and movement through space. What conceptual or emotional ideas were guiding you while developing the work?
Michele Mathison: I was very interested in the feeling of movement through the landscape and how the work could respond to the natural flow of the site. The hill begins slightly elevated before gradually descending, so I wanted the sculpture to almost carry that rhythm and continue it upward into the sky.
There was also something very calming and meditative about the space itself. Even though it was quiet, it felt deeply alive. I wanted the work to exist within that balance — between stillness and presence, between monumentality and openness.
Africans Column: Stone has such a rich architectural and sculptural history in Italy. Why did travertine feel like the right material for this particular installation?
Michele Mathison: Stone felt natural for this place. In Italy, stone carries such a deep historical and architectural significance. Italian marble and travertine have long histories in sculpture and architecture, but what interests me is also the industrial and domestic life of stone.
If you look around us, the same travertine used in the sculpture exists in floors, tiles, buildings, and roads. The same material can become architecture, a brick, or sculpture. I’m interested in that transformation.
As a sculptor, you also have to think practically and efficiently about materials. The site was difficult to access, and because I’m not Italian, I had to think carefully about communication and production processes. Once I developed the concept through drawings and 3D models, I worked closely with local artisans and fabricators here in Italy to produce and install the work.
Africans Column: The work was produced locally in Italy while you coordinated parts of the process remotely. What was it like navigating collaboration, fabrication, and communication across distance?
Michele Mathison: After conceptualising the work, I developed drawings and 3D computer models that allowed me to communicate clearly with the people producing and installing the sculpture. The fabrication process involved a lot of video calls, WhatsApp conversations, photographs, and ongoing exchanges with local builders and stone fabricators.
For me, collaboration is always an important part of the process because you’re constantly learning through the people working closely with the material itself.
Africans Column: Collaboration and craftsmanship seem central to your practice. How important are artisans, fabricators, and material specialists within your process as a sculptor?
Michele Mathison: Collaboration is very important to my practice. I work across many different materials, so I’m constantly building relationships with people who understand those materials deeply — steel fabricators, stone workers, builders, artisans.
For me, those conversations are part of the learning process. Often the artisans know far more about the material than I do. I’m always interested in people who make things with their hands because there’s a kind of honesty and integrity in that knowledge. Those exchanges shape the work itself.
Africans Column: Verso il Cielo exists somewhere between sculpture, architecture, and landscape intervention. Do you see your work as operating within those intersections?
Michele Mathison: Definitely. Even though I’m not an architect, sculpture requires an understanding of engineering, balance, physics, chemistry, and longevity — especially with large-scale public works.
This installation is permanent, so it had to be structurally secure. Each column extends deep into the ground with proper foundations underneath. There’s a lot of engineering involved that visitors may never see, but it’s essential to making the work safe and enduring while still allowing it to feel poetic and sculptural.
Africans Column: The installation unfolds through movement — visitors walk uphill before encountering the work. How important was the physical journey toward the sculpture in shaping the experience of the piece?
Michele Mathison: That journey was very important to me. The walk toward the clearing creates a transition both physically and mentally. It allows visitors to slow down and become more aware of the environment before encountering the work itself.
I think the experience of moving toward the sculpture becomes part of the sculpture. It’s not only about arriving at the work, but also about the time spent approaching it, listening to the landscape, and entering the space gradually.
Africans Column: This is a permanent public commission situated within nature. How did permanence and longevity influence the way you approached the installation structurally and conceptually?
Michele Mathison: Because it’s a permanent public work, it had to be extremely secure and structurally stable. Each post extends about half a metre into the ground, and serious foundations had to be built underneath to support the installation safely over time.
At the same time, I didn’t want that engineering presence to dominate visually. I wanted the work to feel integrated into the landscape — almost as though it had always belonged there.
Africans Column: The work invites contemplation rather than prescribing a fixed interpretation. What kind of experience do you hope visitors leave with after spending time with Verso il Cielo?
Michele Mathison: I think most artists ultimately hope that viewers bring their own interpretations to the work. I don’t want to dictate a single meaning.
What I hope is that people spend time there. There’s a bench at the top of the site, and I hope visitors sit, relax, meditate, listen to the birds, and experience the relationship between the sculpture and the landscape. It’s less about arriving and immediately understanding the work, and more about allowing yourself to slow down and be present within the space.
Africans Column: Tyburn Foundation places strong emphasis on long-term relationships and artist support. In today’s art ecosystem, how important do you think sustained institutional relationships are for artists?
Michele Mathison: I think the art world is moving increasingly toward sustainable relationships rather than purely transactional ones. Of course, the commercial aspect of the art world exists and is necessary to some extent, but I think artists and institutions also need honesty, belief, and longevity within those relationships.
It’s important when foundations or galleries genuinely believe in the artists they work with beyond immediate outcomes or sales. That kind of long-term support creates healthier conditions for artists to continue growing and developing over time.
Africans Column: As an African artist working internationally across sculpture, installation, and public commissions, what possibilities do you think large-scale spatial works create for expanding conversations around African contemporary art globally?
Michele Mathison: African artists are incredibly resourceful and resilient because the reality is that there’s often very little institutional or financial support available on the continent. To survive as an artist in Africa requires versatility, determination, and a strong voice.
Because of those conditions, African artists are often pushed to think very deeply about how they communicate ideas and tell stories authentically. Installation and public sculpture can become powerful ways of extending those conversations spatially and internationally — allowing our stories and perspectives to exist physically within different landscapes and contexts.
Africans Column: Many young African artists are navigating increasingly complex creative and economic realities. What advice would you give to emerging artists trying to build sustainable practices today?
Michele Mathison: I think the most important thing is learning how to listen, absorb, and remain patient. There’s a lot of pressure now to become successful very quickly or to immediately enter the art world, but building a sustainable artistic practice often takes time.
Young artists should focus on learning, meeting people, listening to criticism, taking advice, and remaining curious. Sometimes you also need to find ways to sustain yourself practically while continuing to develop your work. Growth as an artist is rarely immediate — it’s a long process of learning and persistence.
Africans Column: Following Verso il Cielo, what ideas, projects, or directions are currently occupying your thinking as an artist?
Michele Mathison: I’m returning to South Africa to continue working on several private commissions, but as an artist you’re always thinking, observing, and absorbing. Creativity doesn’t really operate on a fixed timeline. Especially with sculpture, there are periods of planning, periods of production, and moments where ideas slowly develop over time.
For now, I’m just grateful to have had the opportunity to create this work here in Umbria and to continue these conversations through the landscape itself.
In many ways, Verso il Cielo embodies the qualities that have long defined Michele Mathison’s practice: an attentiveness to material, a sensitivity to place, and a belief that sculpture can create spaces for reflection rather than instruction. Set within the quiet landscapes of Umbria yet informed by histories stretching from Zimbabwe to South Africa and beyond, the work demonstrates how contemporary sculpture can bridge geographies, memories, and ways of seeing. It also signals the possibilities that emerge when artists are given time, trust, and long-term support. As Tyburn Foundation begins this new chapter through commissions, residencies, and sustained engagement with artists, Verso il Cielo stands not only as a permanent intervention in the landscape, but also as a testament to the enduring value of patience, collaboration, and cultural investment.
