Tanto Molto Tutto (So Much Everything) is the culmination of nine months at a curious and allegorical inflection point. In this time, I have launched myself from text-based paintings into abstract watercolors; renegotiated my conflicted relationship with decorative painting; and witnessed striking synchronicities between my deep past and numerous histories. I have also premiered a short opera at the Kennedy Center, only to see that institution dismantled weeks after and, like others, have dealt with the material impact of a disappearing political stability. It’s a strange time to be working in paradise.

Reckoning with these transitions within Rome’s magic temporality has brought on much spiritual reflection. My artistic path took a more intimate route than I expected. In an effort to return some of the beauty I’ve been granted, I took my first foray into landscape design. This studio garden is for the AAR staff, community, and spirits of Casa Rustica (of particular interest: Galileo, Ralph Ellison, and Ana Mendieta). Inside, I painted a mural that serves as historical reverence, conceptual project, and prayer; in July it will be covered and become an artifact, embedded into the wall. It matters not that it is seen, but that its questions and offerings sink into history, finding a future meaning in the way the past has found me here. Finally, in homage to the Gianicolo, I will perform a selection of original songs about transformation from my recent operas.