Subtle Balance is an interpretation of The Snow Queen (Sneedronningen) by Hans Christian Andersen, published in 1844. Its subtitle is Fairy Tale in Seven Stories because it is divided into seven sections, each of which describes a completed story.

My summary of the fairy tale focuses on some symbolic elements to give an environmentalist reading of the story, stimulating a reflection on climate change and the need to protect biodiversity.

Two female figures, Gerda and the Queen, stand out on separate walls. Opposite seasons in harmonious contrast and the contrast between the explosion of colors and the cold monochrome, an almost missed dialogue. A subtle balance holds the scenes, woe betide anyone who removes an element.

The little girl holds an old metal milk jug full of flowers on which a crow is perched. On the cap decorated with half-withered roses, a bee of enormous proportions is active and two butterflies of impossible colors are about to take flight from the wall. The queen holds a stunted polar bear firmly with one hand and protects a strange element with the other, which then turns out to be a battered heart crossed by cracks. Anomalous floral decorations appear on her cloak, the snow has disappeared and a bare tree can be glimpsed behind her. She is helpless, she cannot be the antagonist, the responsibility lies elsewhere.

Gerda and the Queen, whose melancholic gazes see far away, do not meet except ideally on the facade that shares – according to opposite perspectives – bare branches and a strange red object, later identified as the little girl’s anamorphic shoes (so long when seen from the front, they recompose themselves if observed from the correct point).

Gerda’s wall, referring to the third story (called the flower garden), where the little girl speaks directly to various types of flowers – which respond to her – would like to encourage the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems, and at the same time remember the importance of pollinating insects.

The Queen’s wall, on the other hand, which appears as a silent, almost two-dimensional enigma, refers to the issue of global warming and the progressive melting of glaciers, which determines the disappearance of the natural habitat of many animals including the polar bear, which has now become a symbol of the climate crisis.

And the mirror? It isn’t there because it is clear that we have become blind, the fragments are everywhere. We are facing increasingly extreme, frequent and devastating climate phenomena, it is now a fact.

For decades the scientific community has described how the planet’s climate is changing in a worrying way and how the responsibility lies mainly with human activities, starting with the massive use of fossil fuels. Is it still possible to do something?

In the fairy tale Gerda cannot resort to magic but, with extreme determination and guided only by a good heart, she lifts the curse. She is stubborn, she does not listen to those who tell her that Kai is dead, she sets out alone, she convinces those she meets of the absolute necessity of her goal, she abandons what is precious to her (the red shoes at the river), she talks to the flowers and the animals, who consciously escort her to the destination.

I would like us all to be like Gerda.

Artworks in Sant'Angelo