Mappa

Initiated in 1969 by the Planisfero politico (Political World Map), a world map made of paper in which each country is coloured and thus represented by its flag, and by the embroidery Territori occupati (Occupied Territories, 1969), the Mappe (World Maps) series is emblematic of the work of Alighiero Boetti. To the best of our knowledge, approximately 160 of them exist, created between 1972 and 1993. The one belonging to the Pinault Collection is one of the first four Mappe; it belonged to Gian Enzo Sperone and later to a collection in Turin where it remained until 2023: on the right, in Italian, the site of production (Kabul) and the years of manufacture (1972–73) are inscribed. The vertical left edge contains the artist’s name and two other Italian words, anonimo (anonymous) and omoimo(homonym), recalling Boetti’s ambiguous position with respect to the expression of the artist’s individuality. From top to bottom, texts in Farsi recall the extent to which we are dealing with a collective, transnational creation here. A tireless traveller, since 1971 Boetti undertook several long visits to Afghanistan, familiarising himself with its tapestry tradition, which had been interrupted in the twentieth century. It was on his second visit to Kabul, in autumn 1971, that he initiated the Mappe, drawing on the expertise and collaboration of local embroiderers from whom he commissioned embroideries based on his design.