An Anatomy of Fear

The series delves into Schwartz's theory of the mind, exploring identity, creativity, and fear through evolving sculptures in an Italian art school. It captures students' personal growth amid external and internal fears, reflecting identity transformation

The series reflects on a new model of the mind composed of many sub-minds constantly interacting within us, as asserted by the American psychotherapist and researcher Richard C. Schwartz. We are all multifaceted, with our identity being a composition of parts unveiled through the creative process. The dissection of identity, the creative process, and the artwork itself forms the foundation of the project, providing a privileged channel to scrutinize the unfolding of time and the transformation of identity.

"An Anatomy of Fear" presents itself as a collection of images or imprints, prompting reflection on how a generation of students has evolved in a continuous narrative between being and becoming. It explores external fears in a historically uneasy and fragile moment, alongside internal fears such as shame, judgment from others, control of irrational traits, and pieces of ourselves we have sought to bury.

Executed within an art school in Italy, the project explores the simultaneous evolution of artworks and the identities of students. In these spaces, sculptures in the process of creation were wrapped in plastic by their creators to preserve moisture, giving rise to biomorphic forms, visual symbols of underlying unease, suggesting enigmatic objects and bodies yet to be born as manifestations of an uncertain future.

I began photographing students and their sculptures a few days before the 2020 lockdown, unaware of what would unfold. I had the opportunity to continue photographing during the lockdown within the school, where I found myself alone with their evolving sculptures. When the school reopened, I resumed documenting the creative process of the students and their personal growth that I observed in the subsequent years.

The sculptures, still in progress and enveloped in the fragmented time of creation, become mirrors of the ever-evolving identity of the students, crystallizing moments of personal growth and exploration, revealing profound connections between the creative process and self-construction.

The allure of suspension, the anticipation of imminent events, and the tangible reality of these forms, as authentic as their creators, captured my attention. I perceived the interruption in the sculpture creation process as something more significant and revealing than a continuous narrative of unfolding events.