Dante Alighieri. Florence, Italy, 2021

In 2021, Aidyn Zeinalov made a statue of Dante Alighieri, one of Florence’s most famous sons. The year 2021 marked 700 years since the poet’s death. Zeinalov portrayed him in a contemplative pose, holding an open tome, a copy of his Divine Comedy. Probably a metaphor for his creative thinking, characters from Dante’s work swirl around their creator. “I wanted to create a world of endless wails, cries, joy, contemplation, suffering, and everything else that he captured in his poem,” said the sculptor.