Carolina Sardi
The Journey: Water Project & Suitcase Project, 2002
Painted steel
Baggage Claim Area, Miami Seaport

For her project at Miami’s Seaport titled The Journey, artist Carolina Sardi created six dynamic new art installation in painted steel celebrating memory, travel and movement.  Using steel rods that she bends, welds, and paints, Sardi constructed poetic line drawings of suitcases, sea creatures, and islands that flow through the baggage claim areas of the Royal Caribbean International Cruise Line Terminals.  As departing passengers collect their luggage, Sardi’s continuous high relief frieze will provide visual interest and evoke memory.  Sardi’s work is distinguished by the dichotomy between the hard sensibility of the steel with which she works and the organic quality and weightlessness of the completed piece. 

Sardi visualized her installation in two components, The Water Project and The Suitcase Project.  In The Water Project, Sardi explored travel over water, integrating icons representing ships, water elements, sea creatures and islands.
In The Suitcase Project, symbols of luggage serve as metaphors for travel and identity. For Sardi, the image of the suitcase carries enormous power.  Each piece of luggage holds not only that person’s clothing, but also unique aspects of their personal history, memories and reflections. 

“My art is my way to express my world vision, states Sardi. “The concept is as important as the image and the space as important as the shapes. Although I work primarily in steel, my pieces are light, with an organic sensibility that reflects my interest in the basic interactions of life.”

Carolina Sardi is an Argentinean sculptor who lives in Miami.  She holds a Masters degree in Sculpture from the National University of La Plata in Argentina. She has exhibited widely throughout the United States and her work is found in many collections including the Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale and the Art Museum of the Americas, the OAS, Washington, D.C.

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