È Solo Un’Influenza
What’s going on in people’s homes during a lockdown? Petra Valenti and Rujana Cantoni try to answer this question by engaging in a remote dialogue with lesser known realities of isolation. Involving people from a variety of social classes, backgrounds and professions allowed Petra and Rujana to explore a broader range of human coping strategies and reactions to living in isolation, and choose to tell their stories mixing fashion, elements of real life, and recurrent details of domesticity. Most of the material has been produced through FaceTime screenshots, as well as some photos that Petra directed – with the intention of maintaining the relationship between photographer and subject intact. Through their media of choice, the duo could freely roam their subjects’ intimate spaces, as if they were having a look around, often while chatting or laughing.
The spontaneity of the process gave them a chance to discover how people actually deal with quarantine, and to hear their stories. One of the subjects tested positive for Covid-19 and separated herself from the illness by creating a parallel Sim identity to play with. Others were worried about weed-induced paranoia and quit before isolation began. Some of the people portrayed said they’re trying to manage without a shower at home, since they can’t wash at Esselunga anymore. To depict a variety of personalities and diverse subjectivities is a way for Petra and Rujana to speak of multiple truths, opening up a gaze where anonymity, intimacy and distance can coexist.
Disclaimer: this is anthropological project. We do not endorse or recommend some of the actions or precautions portrayed in the pictures.
creative direction RUJANA CANTONI
photography PETRA VALENTI
design ALEX VALENTINA
photos submission ANGELO, CARLA, CHARLOTTE, CHIARA, DEMBA, ERIK, FEDERICA, GRETA, IVANKA, LETIZIA, LILA, LUCA, LUCREZIA, MAGGIE, MAMMA DI RICCARDO, MILO, NICHOLAS, PAOLO, PASQUALE, PATRIZIA, RICCARDO, SIMÃO, VANESSA, UGHY, ZIO IGNAZIO, ZIA KITTY, ZIA MELINA
words VERONICA GISONDI
More to read
