ART MADNESS Vol 02 Summer Edition | Page 6

In one of your artwork you have a gun with a lot of crosses what do you mean by that ?And its one of your few artworks that have a clarification why? There are two aspects of this picture, the first is the purely aesthetic appearance of the pistol and the crosses reminiscent of the Romeo + Juliet movie, and the second aspect is more controversial and echoes to the religions and the dead that they have been able to do, and can still engender. It’s a very sensitive subject, so I felt compelled to justify myself before, to explain that I respected the beliefs of people, but that I had the right to express a thought by my pho- to, whether it’s nice or not . The crosses are for me a religious symbol, and with this photo I was referring to religions in general and not only to Catholicism. In one of your works, you have socks labelled slut why is that? found this pair of socks on the net, and as I like working on the odd side of things, or a little provocative, I liked them. I think girls have always had more pressure on their shoulders in many areas. With social networks, there are many problems that go beyond taboo, but these are problems that have always existed and that will surely still exist. Girls are under constant sexual pressure, with harassment on the street, in schools, at workplac- es, on the internet. we have always sexualized women much more than men, in the media, fashion, etc. These socks can be seen both as a feminist way of assuming our slutty side, and both as a criticism of the slut’s labels that are put on girls so quickly. I where do you want to reach with your art? for the moment I take it as it comes, but the success was very fast and I still struggle to realize. If I could live with my art, by collaborating with brands that I like or otherwise it would be cool. I would like this to lead me to work with associations also, against sexual abuse, for the rights of LGBT, associations related to the topics that I explore in my photos. These would be really great for me. Do you think that racism is growing among people? and why? I don’t think racism really increases, by the way I hope that is not the case. but I think it’s always present, and especially in a different way, because of amalgams with religions, extremists etc. I think people are afraid of what they don’t know, and their thoughts are very much guided by the media, news channels, and they tend to mix everything up and make dangerous shortcuts. Have you encountered racism yourself ,and is it something that is common in your country? I live in a country that is populated, at first, with white people, and I am white with blue eyes, so I have never experienced racism personally. But I have already seen racism, yes. I grew up in a fairly popular, poor neighbor- hood in a city, and most of my school friends came from families from North Africa and Black Africa. At the age of 10, my parents bought a house in a small village in the countryside where people were much more closed, while most of them never knew people of color. But in general I find my country quite tolerant, whatever the differences. 7