Brera Academy · Biennale Sessions · Sozzani Foundation · Talks & Events
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Eleonora Gugliotta, through the series of performances Donna Vita Libertà (Woman Life Freedom), explores collective memory, the female body as a space of resistance, and the transformation of symbolic materials into visual and performative art. This project is part of the series: Spoglie (Spoils), a body of work that shares the technique and conceptual approach of the Funeral Rite to the Earth.
Gugliotta pays tribute to Jina Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman who died in September 2022 as a result of torture inflicted by the morality police of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The work is connected to the protests that erupted following gender oppression in Iran.
The first performance, held on October 19, 2022, at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, marked the beginning of the project. During the event, part of the Quaderni di Scultura (Sculpture notebooks) project curated by the Sculpture Department, students and participants, including Iranian women and men, voluntarily donated their hair to create a map of Iran, reinforcing a sense of unity and support for the ongoing resistance. This map was later exhibited at the Fondazione Sozzani in Milan as part of the exhibition "RADICAL VOICE Donna, Vita, Libertà“.
The performance was later presented again within the project Parco Aperto > Ecologia (A)sociale, part of Biennale Sessions program at the Venice Architecture Biennale. This phase involved audience participation and the use of hair collected during awareness initiatives held in April and May 2023 at Liceo Artistico Enrico De Nicola in Sesto San Giovanni and Liceo Artistico Caravaggio in Milan. Among these activities, a standout feature was a video interview with M.E., an Iranian artist and activist living in Milan, produced in collaboration with NABA students and presented at the same schools and other venues involved in the project across Milan and Sicily.
Performance “Donna Vita Libertà” (Woman Life Freedom), 2022, Brera Academy of Fine Arts
Exhibited at the Sozzani Foundation, Milan
Performance “Donna Vita Libertà” (Woman Life Freedom), Biennale Session, 2023
As part of the Biennale, two Cyanotypes, were also created, one of which is dedicated to Afghan women, further expanding the message of solidarity and resistance that permeates the entire project.
In the past, Gugliotta collaborated with the Non Una Di Meno Milano movement, participating in events such as the collective performance El Violador Eres Tu, held at the Duomo in Milan in 2020.
