I have always lived near the streets of prostitution in Turin. In the evening, returning home, I often felt uncomfortable passing by these girls, afraid of making them feel judged.

With the fear of being mistaken for one of them and bothered by some “client”.

 

While I was thinking «come on, how could they mistake me for a prostitute?», I realized that the differences between me and “them” are very few.

Under the layers of smudged makeup, those skimpy clothes in winter under the snow, often hide women who cannot escape, that are chained to a condition of sexual slavery.

These are people who, unlike sex workers, have not been able to make a choice, but are exploited as if they were pieces of meat.

 

So I started collaborating with anti-trafficking associations that save women from the streets.

Since 2022 I'm holding painting workshops in halfway houses and creating works of art in collaboration with girls escaped from trafficking, who are often young mothers, together with their children.

 

I want to bring out the humanity, the dignity, the truth of these people who have a face, eyes that look at us but that we ignore.

There is nothing that makes me prouder than looking at those eyes and imprinting them forever on a work of art, painting with Rister, Joy, Roberta, Florence, Juliana… who are now safe and can allow themselves the luxury of doing something for the simple fun, for leaving their mark.

 

The portraits we create are a testimony, works with the aim to denounce, that start from a participatory moment and end up in my solitary reflection.

I focus on the faces and the contours, outlining the volumes, defining the spaces within which they paint their clothing.

 

The figures cut out from the background sometimes have vibrant acrylic colors, thanks to the girls who taught me to appreciate even the most decisive colors. My watery painting mixed with their brutal, uncertain, spontaneous brush strokes.

I have learned to incorporate into the work all signs of the experience during the creation, such as stains, footprints, dirt.

 

Other times the figures are clearly outlined by black and white, indebted to engravings and prints, which later became tempera.

Recently the subjects have freed themselves from the background, coming out of the canvas and transforming into textile sculptures, tangible figures: NO-Dolls that from Invisible become visible.