Camilla Cacciari
How would you describe your art?
My art comes from the need for freedom.
I notice that the human body in my work expresses motion, it's an instrument. I like to represent them in the natural world context, being part of the energy of the cosmos and the creation. I started representing bodies in a traditional sense of beauty and gradually I’m getting rid of those categories, enjoying the rebellion that confronts patriarchal mentality.
We're all should forget about the notion of what it’s beautiful and how a body should be. What is masculine and what is feminine.
What does inspire you?
Recently I’ve been inspired by the LGBT+ community history, the movement in the US in the 60s, by all these people who were pushing the narrative and reviewing what gender had meant until then.
Visually I take inspiration from primitive symbolism, ancient art, its clothes, objects, architecture, utensils... I love using patterns from different cultures (Crete, Ghana, Senegal…) and Mediterranean ceramic (Portugal, Spain, Italy...)
When I travelled to Peru I discovered this precolonial aesthetic and I got so inspired by the connection between humans and animals, their symbolism, their power...
What is being a woman for you?
I think the notion of being a woman is very fluid for me and it’s always changing over time. Seeing the world from a binary perspective, I had connected the view of woman with creation, the natural world, the instincts. But I’ve been realising that this primitive energy is limiting because it divides the world strictly into masculine and feminine. There is so much for the human being that stays stuck in this primitive perspective. Sometimes it’s not all about being a woman or being a man, just both things combined.
What do you celebrate about being a woman?
Everything that has been shamed us: our period, our body, pain, fluctuating mood…
Women have an inner compass that guides them, something that combines reason and emotion and makes them being very conscious about their feelings.
How do you feel about being a woman in the art industry?
I’ve found the same issues being a woman in the art industry as in another job. Social media helps to make your voice be heard but still too much pressure on women being the objects of desire.
Although I’m definitely seeing a lot of change now and it’s amazing. Female artists are celebrating everything we couldn’t express at all before. People who belong to a narrative that has been marginalised now have a voice and it’s related to power and activism. Art has become an incredible tool for women, gay, trans, non-binary, black and disabled people. But we still need to work a lot.
Photos by Mercedes Polo Portillo ©
