In Maintain, Demetrio Di Grado assembles figures and architectural fragments from vintage Italian magazines into a tightly compressed vertical composition. At the center, a child’s face is partially obscured by the word Mantenere (“to maintain”), which cuts across the eyes like an instruction or command. Below, two adult figures lean inward in an intimate gesture of embrace, their bodies forming a protective enclosure that contrasts with the rigid structures layered above.
The work is constructed entirely through an analogue collage process. Paper is cut, torn, and reassembled by hand, with seams and interruptions left visible. Ornamental architecture and domestic forms intersect with human bodies, suggesting the weight of social, familial, and institutional systems pressing down upon acts of care. The child figure becomes the point where these forces converge—both held and constrained.
Rather than presenting maintenance as stability or reassurance, the work frames it as an act of endurance. Care appears sustained through repetition, effort, and quiet obligation. By reactivating archival imagery, Maintain reflects on how responsibility, protection, and emotional labor are inherited and performed, often without visibility, across generations.