Natura morta, 2023
Six small digital paintings
Site-specific
[Photo: © Galardi Media Network. Courtesy Irene Dionisio]
Author, director and visual artist, in her works, video-installations and documentaries, Irene Dionisio deepens sensitive and topical social issuesincluding the role of the intellectual, the women condition, migration, the environment, as well as the potential and dangers inherent in new technologies.
The work Natura Morta draws inspiration from the stories of those who saw their family members die of Covid-19 and were unable to be close to them during their hospital stay, except through digital tools such as cell phones and tablets. Dionisio has created six digital paintings depicting animated still lifes that include some of the objects returned to families after their loved one passed away. From real, these objects become digital, just as the last trace of the people they belonged to was purely digital. At the same time, the work refers back to the dangers inherent in the digital, which anesthetizes grief and removes it from our perception.
Irene Dionisio currently lives and works in Turin. The museums and galleries in Italy and abroad where she has exhibited include: ArtOmi, New York; Ocat, Shanghai; Castello di Rivoli, Turin; Accademia delle Belle Arti, Turin; Pac, Milan; Villa Arson, Nice; Palazzo Grassi, Venice; Museu Berardo, Lisbon; MAMbo, Bologna; Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva. Her production also includes the films La fabbrica è piena (2011), Sur les Traces de Lygia Clark (2012), and Sponde (2015), screened at numerous international festivals. Her first film Le ultime cose (Tempesta, Rai Cinema) was presented at the Venice Critics’ Week and distributed by Istituto Luce Cinecittà in 2017. Also in 2017 she won the Nastro d’Argento Speciale for the screenplay, in 2020 the Giuseppe Bertolucci Award for Artistic Innovation, and in 2021 the American Dream for Artist Grant.