Udine – It will remain open to visitors until Sunday 12 May, and was inaugurated yesterday, Tuesday 7 May, in the heart of Udine – the central Piazza Libertà under the Castle of the Friulian capital – the installation by the artist and activist Gianluca Costantini, “There are loves without paradise”, an artistic Spoon river dedicated to the victims of femicide in Italy, 120 in 2023 and already 60 in the first 3 months of 2024 alone.
Clearly visible in Piazza Libertà in the historic center of Udine until May 12th – designed by the architect Alberto Cervesato – with a diameter of 20 meters, the structure houses 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. 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.
Through this and other initiatives, Vino/Lontano Premio Terzani adheres to the national campaign of Rai Radio1 and the Giornale Radio Rai “Come un’Onda, against violence against women”.
«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. I am not guilty, I have never done anything to have them, but I recognize the experience of possession, of a love based on control, instilled in me by society and the people who raised me. For many men, this idea translates into absurd and inconceivable, senseless violence: better to destroy yourself than to lose yourself. Better to end up in prison than to be alone. I often wonder if I’m educating my child with the right words and gestures, or if I think I’m doing it but in reality it’s not like that. Every now and then I ask myself what I would do if my son committed a murder like that of Giulia Cecchettin. I imagine what a tragedy it is for the families involved: fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters. What would a grandmother think of her murderous grandson? What would I think of my son and myself? Here, this is the meaning of this installation and these drawings: a sense of absolute helplessness.”
