Giulia Cenci: Chiodi

As is often the case in Giulia Cenci’s practice, a literary reference runs through her creative process: Chiodi, a collection of poetry by Ágota Kristóf, accompanied the making of these drawings and gave its title to the portfolio, published by Noire.

Against the black backgrounds of the fifteen plates that make up the work, self-portraits emerge as if suspended in darkness, with female features dissolving into the head of a wolf, the human figure’s alter ego: free and untamed. Animals also emerge from the darkness, evoking the paintings of Goya, Paula Rego and Vincenzo Simone, alongside floating eyes – fragments of gazes drawn from the frescoes of Piero della Francesca.

This series of pages offers an intimate and direct encounter with Cenci’s work, exploring the same strategies of fragmentation and void that characterise her sculptures.