UDINE. An artistic Spoon River that speaks to our consciences, to push us to reflect on gender violence. An appeal to find a way to put an end to this plague – which is social and cultural – by the artist and activist Gianluca Costantini, who has always been committed to human rights.
From Tuesday 7 May, a tangible sign delivered by the near/far festival to all citizens will be clearly visible in the historic center of Udine, in Piazza Libertà. It is Gianluca Costantini’s installation “There are loves without paradise”, dedicated to the victims of femicide in Italy, 120 in 2023 and already 60 in the first 3 months of 2024 alone.
Designed by architect Alberto Cervesato with a diameter of 20 metres, the structure will house within it the portraits of many, too many women who have painfully made people talk about themselves, from Giulia Cecchettin to Carol Maltesi, from Vanessa Ballan to Vincenza Angrisano, Marisa Leo , and many other – too many – victims whose names in many cases we no longer even remember.
Through this and other initiatives, Vicino/lontano Premio Terzani adheres to the national campaign of Rai Radio1 and the Giornale Radio Rai “Come un’Onda, against violence against women”.
The installation will be inaugurated at 7.30pm on Tuesday 7 May, in Piazza Libertà in Udine. Speakers will be Gianluca Costantini and Maddalena Bosio, lawyer from the Udine Bar, involved in human rights issues, in particular the right to asylum, women’s rights, gender violence and family law, author of the essay Gender Violence in the presence of the Court European Union of Human Rights (Key Editor 2020).
Gianluca Costantini has always fought his civil and humanitarian battles through drawing. He collaborates with ActionAid, Amnesty International and Arci, he illustrated the graphic memoir of the artist and activist Ai Weiwei Zodiac, published in 2024 in English (Random House) and Portuguese (Objectiva), with texts by Elettra Stamboulis. And just this year, the jury of the Terzani Prize – which has always been a central moment of the near/far festival – awarded a Special Mention to Ai Weiwei, who will speak remotely on Saturday 11 May as part of the Evening Event of the 20th edition of the Prize in program at the Teatro Nuovo Giovanni da Udine, at 9pm
«This series of portraits dedicated to women victims of femicide – explains Gianluca Costantini – was not born with a specific intent: I started drawing the faces of these women, often smiling or with melancholy expressions. I only added the name and how they were killed, without further details. The cruelty with which they were murdered, hammered, hanged, dismembered, stabbed, strangled, shot or burned, strikes me deeply. This is not a series of drawings of victims of a serial killer, but portraits of ordinary people. Ordinary women killed by their partners, young men, elderly people: it makes no difference. Violence manifests itself in a brutal way. This gallery of faces is not just a denunciation, but also a sense of guilt. As a man, I feel guilty every time a new name appears in the news.”
