8/5/2024
Hi !! Rob
That's cool.
Your works are serious and subtle. Keep lingering. While you're constantly drawing, take your time to try different materials or formats. It will help you expand your art world.
I have an exhibition in Milan in October. The schedule is fixed, but I am still undecided whether to go or only send the work. I'll let you know the schedule later.
Maybe we can meet if we can.
All the best,
Song E
8/17/2024
Hello Song E!
Publishing a book could be a good idea and also a great stimulus for me!
Can you tell me more about it? How would it work? What do we need to do?
As for the “uploading methods,” I leave you freedom of choice!
What interests me - because I believe it is essential in understanding my work - is that:
- a) chronological order (from the oldest work to the most recent)
- b) that the articles accompany the drawings (as I sent them to you)
I will continue to send you old and new works and projects!
And I'm starting to write a more thorough explanation of my work, which explains its growth and changes.
I translated the graph: it is very complex to understand, although it looks pretty interesting!
I particularly appreciate that it uses many levels of interpretation of reality: the economic, the cultural, and the political.
I noticed that Marco Polo, as a period, falls into the "era of consumption," which, according to the graph, is the same one we are experiencing.
If you are interested in a character or an event that also affects Venice, I can find other interesting figures, perhaps female.
For example, Lady Montagu (there should still be a palace in Venice bearing her family name because she used to live there sometimes)!
She was a woman of science and cosmopolitan, the wife of an English ambassador to the East.
Let's say that she has become the seventeenth-century female version of Marco Polo.
And it is thanks to her that the smallpox vaccine was brought to Europe!
Let me know if this topic could interest you (she lived in the “era of consumption” as well)
Best wishes!
Take care
Rob
8/17/2024
Hi Song,
I read your last email and took some notes about it. I'll soon share them with you.
In the meantime, I will continue sharing my other work.
This project is called "Summer, or Take a Holiday from Yourself."
It is an invitation to reflect on inducted dreams and imposed happiness.
There are seven drawings; the year 2021
As usual, here are the drawings:
And the synopsis is attached.
Take care,
Rob
Not even dreams belong to us.
Much of what we desire is suggested - or imposed - from the outside.
From social pressure, advertising, and rhetoric that is functional to
the system. A wedding, presented as the most important day of a woman’s life, is an excellent example of an induced dream.
But without getting political, think about the summer.
Summer is sold as a symbol of carefreeness.
Summer is the sea, the holiday, the dream trip.
But is it really like that?
Statistics show that the peak in suicides occurs during the “good season,” when
the weather is milder and the light is more significant. It’s not a coincidence.
When carefreeness and joy are sold as usual or as duties, they become a
burden. Thinking you have to be happy because everyone is and discovering you
don’t increase your inadequacy and transforms the Other - who seems happy -
into a rival.
8/24/2024
Hi Song E,
How are you?
I hope everything is going well.
In the last two weeks, I've thought a lot about the topics that would be interesting to discuss together.
I wrote down some ideas that I wanted to share with you.
I have made a list of the most discussed topics related to the use of social networks and artificial intelligence. Then, I tried to select those that relate to the theme of the invisible and the gender issue.
The result is:
1) Deepfake
The phenomenon is increasing more and more, and it mainly affects women.
You can already find small documentaries that testify to the psychological consequences of those who fall victim to it and the little awareness that is raised about it.
Some European states are starting to pass laws punishing those who produce harmful material. But the problem is that no way has been found to track down who creates the online content: whoever produces the deep fake remains invisible.
This is a relatively recent topic: “deepfake” was coined in 2017, and there’s still little material on it.
It can be an exciting field of research and investigation.
2) Normalization
Normalization is a cultural process that occurs through getting used to specific images and messages. The most famous normalization is that of violence (just think about the glamorization of the rape).
However, there are many other forms of normalization, less known, such as suppleness (the normalization of happiness occurs through the presentation of joy not only as a purpose but also as a right, duty, and normality).
In this process - which conditions people's judgment and creates clichés, beliefs and stereotypes - the internet plays a key role today.
I think that this could be another exciting field of research because not only is it highly current (just think of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how the Palestinians have always been presented as terrorists by the Western media), but it also allows us a bridge with the past (an example could be the propaganda made through advertising in the 1950s, to conform women to the role of homemakers; or that during the times of European colonialism, where the Blacks were represented as animals. And, if we want to go further back, we can take medieval iconography as a tool for controlling consciences. The examples are endless).
Let me know what you think about it,
take care,
Ro
8/24/2024
Hi, that's me again!
Regarding women and Venice - since you were interested in Lady Montagu - I wanted to propose to others.
The ones I propose below are all linked to Venice. I tried to make a concise presentation:
1) Elena Lucrezia Corner Piscopia (1646 – 1684)
She was a Venetian scholar and philosopher, among the first and few women to have obtained a degree in Italy before the Risorgimento.
She specialized in philosophical studies and was a nun (she took vows because, for women, taking vows was the only way to dedicate themselves to academic research). She could not, as a woman, practice teaching. This achievement did not represent a push for equal rights to education for women; it would have to wait until 1732 for the graduation in Italy of another woman, the Bolognese physicist Laura Bassi.
2) Elisabetta Caminer Turra (1751 – 1796)
She was a Venetian writer and publisher.
She founded, directed, and printed the Giornale Enciclopedico, a periodical distributed throughout Europe. Nobody knows much about her, but she would seem to have been among the first (if not the first) Italian women to direct a newspaper.
She signed herself with the acronym ETC to hide her identity as a woman. Here, too, the theme of invisibility returns.
3) Veronica Franco (1546 – 1591)
She was a Venetian poet, although she is better known for being a high-ranking courtesan.
Hers is a complex and fascinating story: she was accused of witchcraft, and to save herself, she had to stop publishing her verses.
She underwent what was called the "damnation memorial": as a woman, she was not believed to be capable of particular literary gifts; instead, her writings were believed to be the work of all her lovers.
Roby
8/24/2024
Dear, Roby
I think it's a good idea to look at women from a contrasting perspective. First, it would be nice to subdivide the data into time, age, region, race, etc., to investigate the data, find common differences, organize our research in a chart, etc. Since we are women, we should be objective in appealing only from the perspective of the victim or the weak.
I am out now, so I am sending a simple reply. I will read your mail calmly again and send you an answer later.
Best,
Song E
8/24/2024
There are other women that History has forgotten, but I'll stop here in the meantime.
These three samples offer different ideas on different levels.
On the gender side, I like the contrast between "being a nun" and "being a prostitute." They are two opposite conditions but united by two factors:
1) that today women are still seen either as saints or as whores. No middle ground. Thus denying both humanity and complexity.
2) They were the only two possibilities for women to work in what interests them. There are only two possibilities for not being oppressed and conditioned by the family. That's pretty cruel.
About Lady Montagu,
I remember you asking me for some more information.
Fortunately, several books are coming out about her, so there is the possibility of researching a little more (I have read two about her, both by Italian female authors).
What I love is that she is one of the few women whose travel letters have been published. In the nineteenth century, there was a fashion for taking the "grand tour of Europe" (if you want, it's still a trend), and there are many writings about it, but all of them are written by men (the ones by Goethe are very famous, but also Ruskin's).
It is not known that many women also traveled and wrote. And their writings are almost impossible to find.
From this point of view, Lady Montagu could represent an excellent connection with 3 points:
1) Venice (she sometimes went there because she was in love with a Venetian intellectual).
2) Gender issue (her extraordinary contribution to the creation of the smallpox vaccine and the invisibility of her discovery as a woman).
3) Tourism (she was a great traveler), Overtourism (which is destroying Venice and most of the historic European cities), and the role of social media in increasing tourism in some places.
I hope I haven't written too much.
Let me know what you think.
A hug,
Rob
8/24/2024
Dear, Roby
I think it's a good idea to look at women from a contrasting perspective. First, it would be nice to subdivide the data into time, age, region, race, etc., to investigate the data, find common differences, organize our research in a chart, etc. Since we are women, we should be objective in appealing only from the perspective of the victim or the weak.
I am out now, so I am sending a simple reply. I will read your mail calmly again and send you an answer later.
Best,
Song E
8/24/2024
Dear, Song E
I just read your reply: don't worry; take your time.
I'm traveling too!
Let me know if you are also interested in photographic projects. I have been working on this, too.
Good luck :)
See you soon
Rob
8/25/2024
Dear, Roby
How are you?
I'm a little busy with the exhibition, so I haven't been able to look into the details of the women who read your emails and sent them. We must start the 100 Challenge soon, so I'm sending a prologue. You can write your prologue and send it to me accordingly. I'm planning to upload it from September 1st.
After the art fair, I'll visit Korea from late September to early October. The female explorer you told me about last time is very famous, so I was able to find information quickly. Let's look for progressive female leaders or explorers that history didn't pay attention to and think about how to solve them artistically by studying social aspects and developments in an era when there was little discrimination against women. For now, throwing away ideas rather than organizing them is better. Throwing as many ideas as possible, summarizing them, drawing a map, and exploring history would be good.
In Korea, Queen Seondeok of Silla was born in AD 606. Back then, Korea had little concept of female and gender discrimination, and its culture was brilliant. Even now, we can see many cultural assets in Gyeongju, South Korea. What's interesting is that this culture comes from Central Asia. Of course, historians skew a lot of things politically.
Anyway, after the art fair, I can do more research. Let's discuss and determine our topic at the end of this year or early next year in winter after finishing the 100 challenge.
Best,
Song E
8/27/2024
Dear, Song E,
I hope you are well and that the exhibition is going wonderfully! I saw the invitation email, and it looks great.
Thank you for pointing me to Queen Seondeok of Silla. I'll do some research on her. I find her figure very interesting, mainly because I don't know many other powerful women living in a less discriminating society, so I'm keen to learn more.
Thank you also for the prologue and your proposals.
I'm looking forward to starting the 100 Challenge, and over the last month, I've already prepared several texts and drawings!
If it's okay with you, I would like to start my Challenge on Monday, September 30th.
I'm moving from Italy to the UK in the next two weeks, and I'm going to deal with many bureaucratic errands. The following two weeks are going to be the start of my MA, and I know they are going to be extremely busy and challenging.
I hope that starting at the end of September rather than at the beginning would be suitable for you and I know that it would be much less stressful and more comfortable for me.
Anyway, I will send you an initial draft of my prologue on Thursday!
Looking forward to hearing from you
Take care
Rob
8/27/2024
Dear, Roby
Sure, you can start end of September.
You have already done many drawings, so please do not burden that. You can take it easy. 100 Challenge does not demand long articles; short or unstable forms are also acceptable. You can do anything.
I also need to take time for our collaboration work. I think we can focus on it during winter vacation time.
The Venice exhibition we planned is only about a year away next year, so I'm a little impatient. Let's set a specific timeline around the beginning of next year. I hope you focus on your studies and proceed with the 100 Challenge with a light heart.
Take care
Song E