Birth and Rebirth

The meaning of the painting

I created this painting, Birth and Rebirth, using a photo of myself as a newborn as inspiration for the face, around which I integrated a piece of lace fabric that was always wrapped around me as a newborn. My newborn face, the fabric that wrapped me, and the sun as a metaphor for my soul represent not only parts of my life, but also symbols of something bigger.

The umbilical cord tied to one’s earthly mother is replaced by an ethereal cord that connects us to our soul, our sun, our inner light. This painting wants to represent how every newborn is connected to his or her soul, with which over time a process of true integration occurs. Everyone emanates a light and is connected to his or her soul, the inner sun, and this connection becomes stronger and stronger as life goes on and experiences are lived.

The Inner Birth and Transformations

Birth is both literal, when a child is born, and internal. Whenever there is a big change in one’s life, a move, a change of job or whatever, but especially when the change is internal, a great transformation occurs within oneself that involves a change of perspective towards life. Usually it is the internal change that leads to the external change.

Let’s take some drastic cases: people who have a near-death experience. After this experience, regardless of how they experienced it, these people usually have a radical change in their lives; they can no longer do the same things they did before or hang out with the same people, because their perspective has changed completely. They have experienced a death and rebirth without actually dying. However, you don’t have to have such a radical experience to be reborn: it happens like a death of the old and a rebirth to the new every time a great inner transformation occurs.

My life changes

I have had many changes and transformations in my life. Certainly, in my life, mutation is the only permanent thing. I have traveled a lot, and my biggest changes usually correspond to my movements.

When I moved to Tuscany from Milan for university, I wanted to leave Milan at all costs. However, I had to leave behind my greatest passion at the time: dance. I was part of a theater company and, at just 18, they even offered me a job teaching dance for the Municipality of Milan. Giving up all this was painful, but for years I was just waiting to finish high school so I could leave my family home and find my own way.

In Tuscany my life changed radically: immersed in nature, books and study, I found myself in a completely different environment from Milan. I had no social relationships, also because the people in the area where I lived, in the countryside around Siena, as well as the city itself, are very closed to strangers. This cultural characteristic is what has allowed Siena to keep its centuries-old traditions intact. But for me it meant living in solitude, without contacts, immersed only in my studies.

When I was offered a scholarship to study at the University of Granada, in Spain, I immediately jumped at the chance. And there, again, my life changed completely. I was surprised by the openness of the people, and suddenly I found myself surrounded by friends. The contrast with my previous life was enormous: from an isolated life in the countryside, immersed in books, I found myself living a full social life, with friendships that have stood the test of time and that I still carry in my heart today.

The transition from Spain to Brazil, however, was particularly challenging. In Spain I spoke Spanish as a second native language, while in Brazil I didn’t know Portuguese and had to start from scratch. I also really missed my friends. While in Spain music and guitar had become my greatest passion, in Brazil I instinctively left music behind to devote myself to the visual arts. I began creating collages with fabrics and recycled materials, an artistic path that I would later explore in depth over time.

Finally, from Brazil I returned to Milan, closing a cycle. This return was also a radical change: they made fun of me because I could no longer speak fluent Italian, my language had become a mix between Italian and Brazilian. I had to get used to technology again, regain confidence with the computer and adapt to an office job. Going from the endless beaches and the vastness of Brazilian horizons to being closed between four walls in front of a screen was a trauma. However, they were years of deep introspection and deepening of painting in my free time. It was also the most profitable period for selling paintings.

Finally, I moved to the Gavi hills, in Piedmont, where I live now. Here I got back in touch with nature, I also have a dog and a life partner, a chef who passed on to me his passion for cooking. We also share a passion for painting, and ours is the longest relationship I’ve ever had.

Every place I have lived has represented a chapter in my life, and every change of place, country or continent has been accompanied by a profound inner transformation and an evolution of my perspective on life.

An inner turning point

Looking back on my life, the most drastic change didn’t happen during a trip, but during a workshop I attended in 2011, in Sirmione, on Lake Garda. In those few days, I experienced a true internal transformation, so much so that my life would never be the same again.

That journey helped me recognize the hidden mechanisms I was playing with myself and others: energy addictions, victimhood, imbalances I’d never seen clearly. Afterward, I perceived everything differently: on the train home, I observed people and perceived dynamics that had previously been invisible to me.

Once in Milan, I realized that many of the relationships I had until then were no longer in tune with me. Some relationships ended, others transformed. It was like experiencing a symbolic death of the old life and a rebirth into a new perspective, without actually dying.

The message of the painting

This painting, Birth and Rebirth, expresses just this: every inner transformation is a new birth. My newborn face, the lace that wrapped me, the inner sun illuminating the canvas: everything becomes a symbol of connection with one’s soul. Every change, large or small, is an opportunity to let go of the old and open to the light of the new.

Collezionare arte è un dialogo, non solo un acquisto.