“My point of view is not at the centre of the world”
Giovanna’s family story is one of outward migration to Brazil, followed by a return to Italy a few generations later. And she was part of the latter group. Born in São Paulo, she lived within the city’s large Italian community, of which she has roots from both sides of her family. Her paternal great-grandfather, who was from the Veneto region, emigrated to Brazil in the early 20th century. Her maternal grandfather in the 1950s and there, met Giovanna’s grandmother despite them coming from two small and neighbouring towns in Calabria. From him their mother first, and Giovanna and her siblings after, inherited the Italian citizenship.
“I always say that we’re not Brazilian. We are Italian, Brazil has only welcomed us”.
During a trip to Italy, her grandfather showed the places of his youth to her father, who fell in love with Italy. Years later, the company where he worked as a mechanical engineer – FIAT – suggested him to move to Turin, Italy, for a few years and then go to Stuttgart, Germany. And, they decided to return to the country where it all began. “I was 12 and my brothers were 9 and 8. We lived here for longer than we did in Brazil.” It took a while to get used to the Italian context and Giovanna reluctantly studied German at school to fulfil her father’s wish. Nevertheless, they later decided not to go to Stuttgart anymore. High school was a difficult time. Her classmates targeted her background, subjecting her to bullying over sensitive aspects of her identity. But, she found a way to escape: art. She immersed herself in the books she studied in the library, which helped her shift her focus away from the pain she was experiencing.
“Art has always been a medicine for me, a way to get away from everything.”
After high school, she had a very clear idea of her university path, but she had to reach a compromise with her father, who wanted at least one of his children to study engineering. It was her turn, but on her terms. She studied architecture and the day after graduating, she started a master’s degree in Curatorship and Events for Contemporary Art. During those years, alongside her studies, she opened a blog to talk about both architecture and art called “The Double Face”. She wanted to gain a deeper understanding of Brazilian art, and it was through the pivotal encounter with an art curator from the country – who is now a dear friend – that the Brazilian Art column was born. Through this project, she began to meet different artists and learn about the diverse contemporary Brazilian art scene and its traditions. In this way, she also rediscovered part of herself and her origins, which she previously felt very distant. Today, The Double Face is a reference to her dual Italian-Brazilian heritage.
Further reflection on her origins came through Migrantour, a responsible tourism project for which she became an intercultural companion of urban itineraries and in which, she had to talk about herself. She decided to explore another branch of her maternal family: the Arbëreshë. The Calabrian villages of her maternal grandparents were founded in the Middle Ages by a population of Albanian origin, and for centuries they have passed down language, culture, and traditions. And today in her Migrantour, she shows photos of her cousin wearing a traditional Arbëreshë wedding dress. Through the project, she began to understand the decolonial conception of society and culture of Brazilian artists, and their critical distancing from Eurocentrism. And this, led her questioning her origins. Today, she defines herself “more Italian than anything else”, acknowledging to be part of “that community of colonisers who found home in Brazil”.
Since then, she has worked exclusively with non-Eurocentric art related to decolonisation or migration, or with European artists whose work addresses these themes. Over the years, she has wanted to showcase contemporary South American art, with a particular focus on Brazilian and indigenous artists that she would like to bring around the world so that they can share their work first-hand. She believes it is fundamental to highlight alternative perspectives that differ from the European viewpoint and that are not yet recognised or accepted.
“My point of view is not at the centre of the world.”
This, an exemplary phrase for her work and part of the logo of the artistic project she continues to work on and that she has graphically represented with a globe with the ocean at its centre. Today, she is trying to spread these concepts through a training course called Art in Reverse, in which – among the many – she discusses the underrepresentation of women in contemporary art and the need to change the way the world is perceived, starting from the concept of decolonization. In contemporary art, the phrase ‘I don’t understand it’ is commonplace as it is not immediate and requires an analysis of the artist’s history. As with two artists she admires: Félix González-Torres and Jaider Esbell. In his work “Untitled”, the former used a pile of sweets to represent and convey the immense pain of losing his partner. The second, tells the story of his indigenous people and the fight for territory through simple drawings. Depths that would not emerge if one limits to observation.
She has noticed a general lack of openness to change in perspectives in Italian society, a theme she addresses in the Migrantours she runs with school children, where she emphasises the importance of getting to know others before forming an opinion or judgement.
“My aim is to use art as a bridge to help people understand the world around them.”
For her, “art has become a tool from a lifeline”, first and foremost for herself, but also a means that today she uses to address the issue of bullying in schools, for example, or during her courses. Her artistic choices want to encourage people to learn and express themselves, at the cost of scandalising people, and without expecting anything in return.
“Art is the port I always return to but currently, we are in a moment of crisis because either I make art, or I eat.”
Building a career in the arts is difficult without a solid financial foundation. Although she is both an architect and a contemporary art curator, her main job is in a company. This saddens her, but teaching her courses “in reverse” gives her energy. She is passing on her Brazilian heritage to her daughter, who is proud of it and very curious, but she does not have the right to second Brazilian citizenship. Giovanna would not choose to live in Brazil again, and whenever she visits, she spends time with her family, mostly in the countryside. She does not know what it means to live in a megalopolis like São Paulo and the Brazil she can talk about “it’s so insular that it’s difficult to tell”.