ARTIST STATEMENT
I see hair as a semi-abstract entity that can bring air and matter in/to touch. A single hair strand is like a lifeline string that keeps our body extended and connected to the untouchable. I’m not a feminist but I feel very connected to humans who have been denied of their liberties unjustly and their space been violated. The fact that hair is light and can move free in the air symbolizes to me freedom, life, and extroversion; never frivolity. Hair can be also a subtle vehicle of sensuality and seduction that should be charged with such energy only according to the head it grows on.
Ironically, when underlining the plague of the Iranian women, I instead, find myself covering up and hiding my long dark hair in order to not be sexually harassed on a train or in any environment where aggressive men find it proper to approach and disrupt an individual female’s space.
I’m not sure art can be the weapon that can change any type and shade of oppression a woman has to daily face, but I believe it can underline the discomfort and the outrage women and /or/ any victim are silently forced in (or like in Iran fought loudly en masse).
ABOUT THE ARTIST
I’m an Italian artist based in Italy. From 2012 to 2017 I have received relevant and influencing art education at the School of Art of Montana State University in Bozeman, MT, USA. I could not finish my fine art degree because in 2018 my US Visa was denied for no reason. My focus in art is and has been printmaking and drawing, experimental art and photography is my passion. I have previously graduated in World history and English literature in the USA. I had also attended to French literature and language university courses in Parma, Italy and Paris, France.
My work is very introspective and often opens and ties in intimate insights and vulnerability to call on universal, actual problematics of these days. Each piece asks for contemplation and is to be interpreted by the viewer. My work focuses on alienation, physical or mental displacement through the suffering of ostracism and prejudice and keeps in high regards the alluring of simplicity and the importance of subtle detail to form meaning. Texture and color are very fundamental elements of my work and and intrinsic part of it.
© Lara Vaienti