Off the pain, 2022

Collage / Installation

Print on recycled paper

10 frames 20×30 each

1 cardboard

unique piece

When I was asked to be part of the show Reise nach Italien Gregor Lersch and Ludovico Pratesi at Goethe’s house, I gave myself a chance to read The Sorrow of Young Werther after more than 20 years from reading it for the first time when it became a very important book for me as a very young girl.

In reading it now I couldn’t help but noticing that such love pain expressed in such way it is something we don’t do anymore, as suffering for love is something to be ashamed of, or simply because we just can’t stand showing ourselves vulnerable while we always try to look good and successful on social media and in any public appearence. Sorrow is almost a taboo nowadays.

Probably we don’t even allow ourselves to suffer the way Werther did because now we have less tolerance for pain and we kill the pain as soon as we can by psychiatric drug to go back to our lives in order to restore the previous order without processing the pain as we need to.

For this reason I have decided to make a narrative work and to tell a story, a true story about my last conversation with a dear friend of mine who eventually killed herself some months later.

When a journey ends it leaves you richer with experiences and with a different perspective on yourself and the world. And that’s what happens with relationships: people you love and you share your life with are part of your journey, make your journey what it is.