feminist bioInstead of a work bio, I decided write a feminist bio inspired by Paola Bacchetta, a scholar specialised in postcolonial and feminist theories, who emphasizes the importance of situating oneself before beginning to write or talk (see http://www.internationaleonline.org/dialogues/11_who_is_speaking).
Thanks to Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez for sharing her precious knowledge in her text “Washing whiteness in art institutions” (e-flux) which inspired me to write a feminist biography. I will briefly situate myself: I am a white woman, born in Poggibonsi, a town in the mid of the Chiantishire in Tuscany, Italy in a mixed working- and middle-class family. Since I was a child, I had an innate admiration for the art and culture that would surround me in public squares, buildings, but also museums. My mum told me I was 4 when I first expressed admiration for a painting, the "Blue House" by Marc Chagall, which I saw in a temporary show in Pisa, on a rainy Sunday evening of my childhood. Whether that has been a threshold for a revelation, I don't know, but I like to think something changed since then. Thus, I began exploring the feelings that encountering and producing art would give me. I left Italy as soon as I could after the studies because my family couldn't pay me to go studying abroad. I felt I was thinking more than the space I had. Since then, I have never really stopped travelling and being immersed in art and artistic practice. I am able-bodied, even though I experienced being on a wheel-chair after a bike accident and that experience changed my understanding of life priorities. I have two university degrees in contemporary art and history of exhibitions and museology. A few years ago, I began a PhD research on the ethics of curating and researching in art institutions, which is still undergoing and which I hope to conclude soon (even though it evolves organically as life changes). I constantly receive comments about my hand gestures when I am speaking other languages, and my Italian accent is noticeable in any of the foreign languages I speak. But I decided to stop performing a British or an American accent and not deny the place where I come from. I don't identify myself with a national identity but I feel close and recognized by communities of people that believe in the agency of people and in the power of revolutionary thoughts (and actions). . -Irene Campolmi ---- |
Me, 6 am, Great Chinese Wall, 2019.
The image above is extracted by Basim Magdy's solo show "M.A.G.N.E.T." at MAAT, Museum Art Architecture and Technology in Lisbon (2019), which I co-curated with Inês Grosso. |
InterestsArt Curating & Exhibitions History
Performance Artistic practices reflecting on ecology and climate change Gender studies Curatorial Ethics Queerism Postcolonialism |
HobbiesYoga
Running (Danish weather permitted!) Travelling ....and travelling even more. Piano |