Like other pieces in the same series, the moniker of Primitive Mornings recalls the ancient, pre-civilizational epoch of both man and earth - the early days of the longue duree of human and geological trajectories. The work is a sculptural rendition of a fragment of an imaginary Greco-Roman mask, crafted from fossilized resin, that suggests the art historical traditions of Italy, the land of the artist’s birth. The use of fossilized resin is conspicuous; present in the clear, honey-hued amber of the material are bits and flecks of unidentifiable objects, a record of the natural environment that has been preserved in it. The botanical origins of resin also accords with what has been inserted into the open mouth of the mask: an organic leaf. The latter is, of course, an element that requires regular changing to remain fresh, a gesture that Sciascia remarks is akin to the Balinese practice of placing offerings at an altar. That the leaf is meant to resemble a protruding tongue again evokes the visual culture of the Hellenistic world: the expression recalls that of the Gorgoneion, the icon of the Gorgon’s head with its tongue out, that functioned as an apotropaic talisman. The reference to Gorgonian myth also recalls the presence of the creature in the trinacria, the coat-of-arms of Sicily, where Sciascia originally hailed from.