SILVIA BIGI
The tree of milk
Curated by Francesca Lazzarini
Are we not all like Vukosava and Stana? Starting from a photograph found by chance L’albero del latte (The Tree of Milk) by Silvia Bigi, a project dedicated to all the women who fight every day to be milk and blood at the same time, in an incessant attempt to reconcile the different dimensions of themselves.
The Dino Zoli Foundation of Forlì (Viale Bologna, 288) presents, from 24 February to 14 April 2018, L’albero del latte by Silvia Bigi, curated by Francesca Lazzarini. The exhibition, which will be inaugurated on Saturday 24 February at 6 pm, officially opens Who’s next, a programme aimed at promoting and supporting the creativity of young people strongly supported by Dino Zoli himself.
Stana Cerovic, portrayed along with her sister Vukosava, a wife and mother, was the last sworn virgin in the Balkans. The tobelije were women who were willing to become men (with their gestures, clothing and social behaviour) just to escape arranged marriages, ensuring independent living in a strongly patriarchal society.
The title of the exhibition is taken from the Kanun of Lek Dukagjini, an ancient code of precepts and customs that defines with the term “Tree of Milk” the female lineage while the “Tree of Blood” indicated the only real lineage, the masculine one, the dominant line.
With The tree of milk Silvia Bigi explores the topic of gender identity mixing reality and fiction, poetic evocations and critical provocations. Photographs and installations, documenti d’invenzione and objets trouvés collected between Balkans and Romagna make up a journey that deals with universal daily, historical and current subjects, to reflect on woman’s role in contemporary society and on social changes.
Taking cues from the photograph of Vukosava and Stana, Silvia Bigi investigates themes such as marriage, dowry, sexuality and the perpetuation of dominant social norms through the use of photography, her medium of choice, but also involving mixed technique installations, textile work and audio files.
The project includes works related to sexuality (Esercizi di preparazione ai doveri della prima notte [Preparatory exercises for the duties of the first night], 2017), the relationship between genetic predetermination and culture (Il corredo della sposa [The bride’s dowry], 2017), the transmission of gender models (Gli anelli dell’albero [The tree rings], 2017) and the search for balance in the construction of identity (Il sangue e il latte [Blood and milk], 2017).
The exhibition tour ends with a work embroidered on material entitled Il codice (The code 2017), a collection of women’s laws written in the dialect of Romagna, embroidered by hand on a sheet, kept and handed down in secret by women from one generation to the other. As explained by Francesca Lazzarini “ the reading of its content by the poetess Laura Turci accompanies the visitor along the exhibition tour. It is a kind of subversive repetition intended to deposit a new set of norms, writings – this time – from women and for women “
The Dino Zoli Foundation is open to the public from Tuesday to Thursday from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm, and from Friday to Sunday from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm and from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm, closed Mondays and holidays. Free entry. For information: tel. +39 0543 755770, info@fondazionedinozoli.com, https://fondazionedinozoli.com/en/.
TECHNICAL SHEET
Silvia Bigi. The tree of milk
Curated by Francesca Lazzarini
Fondazione Dino Zoli
Viale Bologna 288, Forlì
24 febbraio – 14 aprile 2018
FOR INFORMATION
Fondazione Dino Zoli
Viale Bologna 288, Forlì
Tel. +39 0543 755770
info@fondazionedinozoli.com
www.fondazionedinozoli.com
PRESS OFFICE
CSArt – Comunicazione per l’Arte
Via Emilia Santo Stefano 54, Reggio Emilia
Tel. +39 0522 1715142
info@csart.it
www.csart.it
Silvia Bigi was born in Ravenna in 1985. She graduated at DAMS in Bologna, obtained a master’s degree at Adams Experimental Centre in Rome and she continued her studies at the International Center of Photography of New York. From 2015 to 2017 she was artistic director at Lilith, a space for contemporary photography, with classes, shows and exhibitions. In 2017 she created “Percorsi Fotosensibili” (Photosensitive Journeys), an independent photography educational project, cooperating in parallel with schools of photography and festivals in Italy. Her works have been exhibited in group and solo shows nationally and internationally. At the moment, she lives and works in Ravenna and Milan
Francesca Lazzarini, graduated in sociology, has worked in the world of photography since the end of the ‘90s. Since 2007 she has cooperated in the establishment and development of the Fondazione Fotografia Modena (Modena Photography Foundation), a project on which she has worked full time since 2012, dealing with training, publishing, residences and overseeing special projects. Since 2013, as an independent curator, she has extended the range of her research to include the campo delle immagini and works on exhibitions and cultural projects in cooperation with Italian and foreign artists, collectives, associations and public institutions. Convinced of the potential of the visual arts as instruments to activate new processes of signification, she focuses her work on the contribution these can make in re-imagining the world. Guided by this principle she has been involved in critical, educational and teaching activities since 2011. In 2016 she set up the Cultural Inventory association and the Air Trieste artist residence programme. In 2017 she cofounded the POIUYT platform for image-based research.
The tree of milk of Silvia Bigi explores the subject of gender identity mixing reality and fiction, poetic evocations and critical provocations. Photographs and installations, documenti d’invenzione and objets trouvés collected in the Balkans and Romagna make up a journey that deals with universal daily, historical and current subjects, to reflect on woman’s role in contemporary society and on social change opportunities.
The title of the exhibition is taken from the Kanun of Lek Dukagjini, an old code of precepts and customs passed down orally in the Balkans since medieval times, and perhaps even earlier, and later collected in written form. In the canon – which was handed down by the elders of the community and governed the entire social, legal and economic life of the territories where it was applied – the term “Tree of Milk” was defined as the female lineage while the “Tree of Blood” indicated the only real lineage, that of the male, the dominant line.
The work of Silvia Bigi starts with an accidental finding, the image of a woman, Vukosava Cerovic, portrayed together with another person, seemingly a man. In reality it is her sister Stana Cerovic, the last sworn virgin of the Balkans. The discovery of the existence of the tobelije – women prepared to become men and remain virgins in order to avoid arranged marriages and gain an independent life in a strongly patriarchal society – is the starting point of an argument that investigates the relationship between genetic predetermination and cultural construction of identity, passing through traditional themes such as marriage, dowry, sexuality and the perpetuation of dominant social norms.
With an approach that starts from photos to then expand the boundaries to encompass installations, textile works and audio works, L’albero del latte, presented here for the first time, looks for answers to a question that has constantly haunted Bigi from the moment she found the photo: Although we live in a different context, are we not all like Vukosava and Stana?
