Can you speak about the evolution of your work, in which transition is a central theme? How are your personal life and your art practice intertwined?
Transitioning was a turning point in my life—an opportunity to reinvent myself, re-born and re-generate. My work and life are ever related, informing, disturbing and challenging one another. Accepting to be trans is accepting your multiple faces, the coexistence of opposite forces that try and succumb to each other. Transitioning strengthens myself and my work by allowing vulnerabilities to leak in and flowing everything in a river to the sea.
Your work often tells stories between myth and science; why are these concepts so important for you?
Through myth, I create reality. The sea is my oneiric fantasy, the place where I give vent to myself, where I let my thoughts free in a deep transcendental journey. My imagination gives shape to my torments. Since I’m not able to find any story or place to inhabit, I urge to create my own. Myth is as important as scientific research in the sense that we can write narratives and literature about what/who we are. Such a process should be maintained open and fluid, both in science and mythology. My studio is a science lab where I delve into my research while my body becomes the scientist and the test subject.
You told me that Hermann Nitsch was particularly relevant for your current work in progress; how has he inspired you? Do you have any other artists that guide you through your journey?
Flesh, blood, meat. Nitsch’s performances are a source of inspiration for my transition. I am closely looking at my body, fat, muscles, and hair changing. I am warmer, and my blood is thicker. There’s a fire within me. Walking within Inferno’s exhibition in Rome at Palazzo delle Scuderie while listening to Philip Glass, I felt something within me moving and arising. It is time for a real transformation.
What are your future projects?
I am working on a new project which will take me some time to make. It’s something I’ve been dreaming of lately, which involves whales and their communication skills. Soon I will perform in Milan, presenting a new piece. In August, I will move to New York for a master at Pratt Institute, but before that, I will do a residency in Istanbul.