Soffice
by Chiara Salvi
Soffice analyses artist sister’s knee injury and her wounds both scientifically and emphatically. It explores faulty physique, healing process and rehabilitation.
The project explores the body as a faulty machine and the healing as a process of acceptance and patience. It is about time and waiting, the impossibility of accomplishing actions and depending on someone else. It serves as recording of a recovery process spectated in a home environment, filled with medications, painkillers, treatments, machineries and any sort of medical images; while looking at the daylight changing through the window.
"My practice comes together by merging medical imaging and the aesthetic of distressed bodies.
The traumatic event is observed from the scientific, medical point of view, however, Soffice is also about aesthetic, empathy and the physical and emotional introspection.
The body is analyzed cautiously, through a keyhole, familiar yet mysterious. I am fascinated by the invisible and the microscopic, the technicality of bones, the impenetrability of skin and the devices that make it transparent, The incredibly persistent capacity of the human body possesses to heal itself.
It is about raw skin and sharp pain
about a tender body
stiff muscles
swell legs
thumping headaches
shortness of breath dilatated pupils
and bruises
is about healing
about scars, patience and time
soothing skin
strengthening muscles
stronger bones
small steps
walking again
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| 3D xray knee joint on aluminium, silver gelantine, 2016, Chiara Salvi |
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| Dry lips, 2015, Chiara Salvi |
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| Fragile, 2015, Chiara Salvi / Half-closed eyes, 2015, Chiara Salvi |
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| Healing, 2015, Chiara Salvi |
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| Light path, 2015, Chiara Salvi |
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| Morning light, 2015, Chiara Salvi |
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| Portrait of my sister, 2016, Chiara Salvi / Skin, 2015, Chiara Salvi |
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| Swelling, 2015, Chiara Salvi |
Chiara Salvi is an italian artist born in Florence in 1993.
“Art entered my life when I started looking at Renaissance art and Classical paintings; the city I was born in strongly shaped my understanding and perception of beauty and proportion, it also sparked my interest in the human body and its anatomy. Wandering and exploring made me a photography enthusiast. In 2012 I moved to London where I started working as a photographer. Since starting my Photography degree at the London College of Communication in 2013 my curiosity has been redirected towards analogue photography and alternative photographic processes.From that point, despite still being both a film and digital photographer, my practice has been mainly focused on experimentation with photosensitive material, emulsions and human micro and macro anatomy. In 2016 I curated my first photography exhibition titled "Touching a Photograph", along with workshops, focused on the handmade in photography, alternative processes and darkroom techniques.”
Website: http://www.chiarasalvi.com/